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As the daughter of former MP Shaun Woodward and supermarket heiress Camilla Sainsbury, her upbringing was one of wealth and privilege.

But behind closed doors, Ella Mills – known as ‘Deliciously Ella’ – had a ‘complicated’ childhood, which was ‘difficult to navigate’ and left her feeling ‘very unhappy.’

The former food blogger, 32, who now runs a £60 million health food empire, said her tumultuous upbringing had a definite ‘impact’ on her and left her with ‘low self-esteem.’

Growing up in Oxfordshire, Ms Mills had a first class education at Oxford’s exclusive Dragon School before moving to Hurtwood House to take her A-levels.

But all was not as it seemed in her high-profile family, with her father – who started out as a Conservative MP before joining the Labour Party – separating from his wife of 30 years in 2015 and coming out as gay. He is now in a relationship with camera operator Luke Redgrave.

Ella Mills - known as Deliciously Ella - runs a £60 million health food empire

Ella Mills – known as Deliciously Ella – runs a £60 million health food empire

Shaun Woodward with his ex-wife Camilla at St Helens Town Hall in the 2001 General Election

Shaun Woodward with his ex-wife Camilla at St Helens Town Hall in the 2001 General Election 

‘[It was] complicated. And I’m really conscious of that, you know, so much of life isn’t your story to tell,’ Ms Mills said of her childhood on the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast.

‘And certainly, that’s how I feel with a lot of it.

‘But obviously you, like anyone, have good bits, but it was, especially in retrospect, extraordinarily complicated and quite charged, and quite difficult to navigate.’

She said she was only partially aware of it as a child, but it ‘very clearly had an impact on me, and I was really unhappy.’

She added: ‘And was for a very, very long time had very low self-esteem.’

Ms Mills, who is mother to daughters Skye, four, and May, three, with Matthew Mills, said it wasn’t until she met her husband’s family that she recognised what was a ‘normal’ family dynamic.

Mills is the son of the late Labour MP Tessa Jowell, who died from brain cancer in 2018.

‘I think it took me a long time to kind of recognise what’s normal, what kind of family dynamics I would want, or would want to model for my children,’ she said.

‘And it was really meeting my husband and his family who had a very simple relationship between the four of them with his parents and his sister that was quite a mirror to actually quite how complicated it has been.

‘And actually, as a result, how complicated I think I was, in so many ways, which was quite confronting.’

Ella and Matthew pictured with their two children Skye and May in Venice, November 2023

Ella and Matthew pictured with their two children Skye and May in Venice, November 2023

Ella and her father, former MP Shaun Woodward, who helped to set her up with her husband Matthew Mills

Ella and her father, former MP Shaun Woodward, who helped to set her up with her husband Matthew Mills 

But, it was thanks to her politician father that she met her husband in the first place as he suggested they go out on a date after he was contacted by Mills about a potential collaboration with his daughter.

‘I had just broken up with my boyfriend of four years or so, and my dad sent me a message being like, “this is the guy for you”,’ she said.

‘And I was like, “I’m not interested”, I was really enjoying being single and was having this really exciting moment of my career.

‘I didn’t really want to be match made by my dad.’

But the meeting paid off as they moved in together within a week of their first date and were married within a year.

‘It was a full arranged marriage at 24. It was an unusual set up,’ she said.

‘My dad’s like, WhatsApping me photos of him – it was quite weird.

‘But we met and then I was like, “Oh, I don’t know if I want to see him again because that’s kind of person that you marry, and I don’t really want to go near that at the moment”.

‘And then as I said, on our third date, we moved in together and that was that.’

While studying at the University of St Andrews, Ms Mills was diagnosed with rare medical condition postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, which attacked her nervous and digestive systems.

Her diagnosis prompted her to start exploring a plant-based diet, which led to the creation of Deliciously Ella.

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This post first appeared on Daily mail

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