Heather Mills addresses Sunderland Business Festival

The former model gave a talk at 1719, the former Holy Trinity Church, in Sunderland.

She talked about growing up in the North East and her tough childhood – how her mother left the family home and how her father “was all about appearances”.

She said they “had a sofa one minute and the next it was been taken down the street by the bailiffs”. Her father eventually went to prison for fraud.

Her first business venture was buying a stick-on bra business which she said made £250,000 on before selling it.

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She spoke about how it was an accident in 1993 which really let to her becoming a vegan.

Heather Mills addresses the audience and media at the Sunderland Business Festival event held at Holy Trinity Church 1719, Hendon, Sunderland (Image: SORTED PR)

Ms Mills was knocked down by a police motorcycle, suffering crushed ribs, a punctured lung, and the loss of her left leg below the knee.

“I had a friend who told me she’d healed herself by becoming a vegan,” she said.

“It may sound crazy but when you’ve lost a leg you’ll try anything.

“My leg kept getting infected and they were amputating more and more of it so I needed to do something.”

Ms Mills described how she went to a special vegan retreat in the USA and said that “within two weeks I got healed”.

“I started to realise how important veganism was,” she added.

“This was in 1993 – 30 years before it was taken seriously.

“I wanted to go into a restaurant and wanted to feel normal, to eat what other people were eating so I developed my first vegan burger in 1993.”

Since then her V Bites business – which is based in Peterlee, County Durham – has grown to the point where her products are sold in 24 countries, winning awards across the world.

Ms Mills was critical of the fact she got no support for her business and had to fund it with her own money, while encouraging people to follow their dreams.

“You can achieve anything if you put your mind to it,” she said.

“There is so much talent in the North East you just need to go after what you want.”

She also encouraged people to support independent businesses.

“Buy local, don’t be lazy and just click on ten items from Amazon,” she added.

“Make conscious decisions before you buy things. Look at where they are manufactured, how they have been made.

“ Make informed choices and we can all make a difference.”

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