This Christmas, for the first time in my life, I’ve had to cope alone. The thing is that my boyfriend is married.

My parents have known this for the 10 months we’ve been seeing each other, and they’ve disowned me.

It didn’t mean very much, as I’m deep in the heart of media, and no one gives a flying fig about your personal life as long as you do a job, and I do. So, at the age of 28, with a couple of heartbreaks behind me, I was more than happy to find a guy in my business who fancied me, and was able to take me to places and to meet new people.

My family was the least of my worries, and my career started to rocket, then along came Christmas. My family weren’t on the scene. Nor was my boyfriend. He had to spend time with his wife and kids. He booked me into a five-star spa hotel for the three nights of Christmas. It was lovely. But I’ve never felt so alone in my life.

Is this what it’s like being a mistress?

l Barbara says: Yes. Take no notice of the rave reviews of being the “other woman” because couple breaks, and all that togetherness, isn’t built into the life you’ve chosen. It’s the down side. And it can be pretty bleak. Can you live with it? For how long?