Yasmin Le Bon is fighting a ''running battle'' with depression.

The 50-year-old supermodel has confessed she struggles daily with the illness but isn't seeking treatment as she feels she is ''in control'' of it.

She said: ''I have had real depression. It's a running battle every day and I've worked very hard at it. I'm in control of it but it's there all the time.

''When depression lasts for months, that's serious. If that's happening then you need to seek proper help. You've got to know you are going to get out of it. It may take time, but you will.

''I haven't [taken medication] but I would if I felt myself really on the edge and needed extra help. If your body's not producing what it should be, then there's nothing you're going to be able to do about it. We have the science, knowledge and understanding to put it right. You're not a failure, it's an illness.''

The brunette beauty - who is married to Duran Duran singer Simon Le Bon - has grown to love her ''melancholy'' nature.

She explained: ''I'm a melancholy person. But melancholy's beautiful; it's not something to be frightened of. It's a very relevant emotion to have.

''I'm not frightened of it any more, I can talk about it. That beast is not going to rear her ugly head today, I'm just not going to let her.''

Yasmin - who lives with Simon, 56, and their three daughters, Amber, 25, Saffron, 23 and Tallulah, 20 - added her children are always around to keep her spirits high.

She told Red magazine ''[Laughter is] the key to everything. We laugh hysterically all day. It's the singularly most important thing I can think of in my life.''