Danielle Laidley has detailed the depths she fell to after her life in AFL came to an end, the hardships of growing up in Balga in a split family and the overwhelming support she has recently felt from the football community, including former coach Mick Malthouse.

Her new book Don’t Look Away: A Memoir of Identity & Acceptance details the former football star’s journey through gender dysphoria, from premierships to rock bottom to reclaiming her true self.

Danielle (pictured above with fellow Kangaroos legend Brent Harvey) told Gareth Parker on 6PR Breakfast she carried her gender dysphoria from a very young age.

“The persona or brand I built for myself at that point in time was so far removed from who I was,” she said on Wednesday.

“Sport – cricket in summer, football in winter – was a way to balance out my life.

“Investing in my playing and coaching career, that was my addiction… when I left the AFL to mostly start transitioning, I didn’t have my disease of addiction, being a workaholic.

“And for the first time in my life I started to gamble, started to drink and got introduced to drugs at 48 years of age at that very dark time. That’s not me, I’m quite embarrassed and ashamed of that.”

Tap PLAY to hear about her journey before, during and after her AFL career