Melissa George: The real heartbreak behind my meltdown

It turns out that the Home And Away star’s unrelenting desire for a child could be fuelling her erratic behaviour.

For a woman who finds herself with the enviable choice of croissants in Paris or dog-walking in New York, what Melissa George really wants is much closer to home. What she wants – or “needs” she says – more than anything else in the world is to hold a baby of her own in her arms.

But in an interview with Woman’s Day, the 36-year-old revealed her burning desire to be a mother is putting pressure on her new relationship with millionaire boyfriend Jean-David Blanc and leaving her depressed. Such is the pressure she feels, she has even joked that perhaps she should just “buy’’ a baby to satisfy her family’s questioning about when she might have a child, and says how “relieved’’ she will feel when she finally does fall pregnant.

“Yes, it’s obvious I need to have kids but the more pressure, the more upset I get,’’ she says. “I just think that’s really unfair. “At my sister’s wedding everyone was asking me [when I was going to have children] and I thought ‘OK, so should I just go and buy one? What do you expect of me?’ People want the best for me but it makes it very hard for me.’’

Melissa says newspaper headlines such as “Melissa George and her millionaire boyfriend want babies’’ don’t help, and she finds public attention of this kind “upsetting’’. “It actually puts a lot of pressure on me, like sad pressure,’’ she explains. “It makes me feel really sad because I don’t deserve to be told when it’s the right time and put pressure on a relationship that’s new. When I am pregnant, phew, I will be so relieved.’’