The 43-year-old Australian supermodel revealed she makes a conscious effort to keep her public and private life separate in order to protect her children.

She said: "I don't use my personal life or my family in order to sell products and I never have."

"I'm a public person but there are people in my life who didn't choose my job, and have a right to anonymity. And so do my children."

Elle has two sons – six-year-old Arpad Flynn Alexander Busson and three-year-old Aurelius Cy Andrea Busson – with former lover French financier Arpad Busson.

The couple got engaged in August 2002, but the birth of her second son put a strain on the relationship after Elle was treated for exhaustion and post natal depression.

Elle and Arpad split up in July 2005.