Vikie Shanks was born in Aden (South Yemen). Her father was an
overbearing, strict military man and Vikie’s early life was far from
easy, especially when her mother died when Vikie was only 15. She left
home at 17 to move to London after a heated argument with her
father which nearly resulted in Vikie’s death after he tried to strangle
her. She had no parental support or anything to fall back on, but she
continued.

After working as a model for several years, Vikie met her future
husband and her life changed forever. He was a controlling Narcissist
and Vikie found herself trapped in a relationship from which there was
no escape. He dramatically took his own life in 2007 leaving her with
their seven children to raise alone, with no help from any family or
friends.

Six of Vikie’s seven children are on the autism spectrum. The seventh
is severely Dyslexic, and the youngest two also have Cerebral Palsy.
Vikie’s mother and two brothers were also autistic, so Vikie has lived
with autism and mental health struggles her entire life. She speaks
about her battles with depression openly. Vikie’s youngest daughter
spent many of her adolescent years in a psychiatric hospital being
treated for Anorexia. Her life hung in the balance on many occasions
but she finally came home to live in September 2018.