Image copyright PA

Socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson has revealed that she feared she was going to die when she learned she had a brain tumour.

The former "It Girl" and reality TV star said she began receiving treatment in January for a non-malignant growth in her pituitary gland.

Ms Palmer-Tomkinson, 44, told the Daily Mail: "I got terribly frightened. I started thinking, 'I'm going to die.'"

The tumour has been successfully reduced by the treatment, she said.

'Very lucky'

Ms Palmer-Tomkinson said the tumour was discovered after she went for blood tests after feeling ill in the summer of 2015.

She said: "'I actually feel very lucky. My growth was non-malignant but it affected the production of prolactin. I've been with people who have malignant brain tumours so I don't want to be like, 'Hey look at me'.

"I have been - touch wood - luckier. I've taken medication and, thankfully, it seems to have gone away for now."

Media criticised

The pituitary is a pea-sized gland on the underside of the brain which controls the release of hormones in the body.

A prolactinoma is normally a benign, slow-growing tumour in the pituitary gland, but its effect on the secretion of the hormone prolactin can cause infertility.

Ms Palmer-Tomkinson was also diagnosed with an auto-immune condition, which causes tiredness, joint pain and acute anaemia.

Having been treated for cocaine addiction in the past, she has criticised media coverage which had blamed her frailty on drugs.

"That's always their take on it... cocaine. That was so many years ago. But not many people can contemplate Tara's life without it," she said.