Skate star fears small spaces... and being poor DONNA MARE

DANCING on Ice star Donna Air suffers the kind of nightmares you would never expect from a woman dating the Duchess of Cambridge’s brother.

The model and TV presenter, who has a daughter with multi-millionaire aristocrat Damian Aspinall, is haunted by a fear of being skint.

Donna, 38, said: “The sense of being super poor terrifies me. I think it’s an instinctive thing as a mother to want to feed and clothe my child.

“That is why I keep working hard.”

Donna, who grew up in Newcastle before fame in kids’ TV show Byker Grove with pals Ant and Dec, also reveals her fear of confined spaces has stopped her going on other reality shows.

She said “I am scared of imprisonment. I am claustrophobic. I can’t be in a room with a low ceiling. That’s why I’ve never done I’m a Celebrity. I’d hate being in the jungle trapped in a box of rats. Not for all the tea in China would I do it.

“I also hate not having space around me. I would never be good in Celebrity Big Brother as I hate sharing space.”

Donna, who had her daughter Freya with wildlife park owner Damian 14 years ago, is partnering professional skater Mark Hanretty in the show.

She will be up against Coronation Street actress Brooke Vincent, Love Island winner Kem Cetinay and Bucks Fizz singer Cheryl Baker. She spent six weeks training at an ice rink in the run-up to last Sunday’s opening show.

But she says it’s a wonder she can even walk, let alone skate – because she broke both legs and needed a wheelchair after a car crash in 2011.

She recalled: “I was getting into my car picking Freya up from school and I got clipped on the leg by a car. I had such bad balance afterwards that I tripped and hurt the other leg.

“I had a broken left leg and lots of broken bones in my foot. I was in a wheelchair for four months.

“I hated it. Fortunately everything has healed fine. I was just very grateful that I wasn’t permanently i n a wheelchair and that I don’t have a limp.”

Donna has had a dramatic start to her time on ITV’s Dancing on Ice.

Her o r i g i n a l s k a t i n g partner Lloyd Jones quit, reportedly over a failed romance with fellow pro Meg Marshall, who has also left the show. Then earlier this week Donna tweeted that a thief broke into her car boot and took her skates, which are “moulded to her feet” and “impossible to replace”. She offered a reward.

She started dating Kate Middleton’s younger brother James, 30, four years ago and accompanied him to sister Pippa’s wedding last year. She revealed that their relationship is more than an on-off romance.

She said: “I never talk about my relationship but what I will say is it has never been on-off. And I’m very happy.”