Amanda Holden's daughter Lexi has been hospitalised after contracting a life-threatening illness.

Lexi, 18, was admitted to hospital with E. coli, making her one of the first individuals affected by the latest outbreak. She spent five days on a ward, with her mother Amanda and father Chris by her side.

Lexi had been experiencing bloating and stomach cramps for a few weeks while sitting her A-level exams. The family initially attributed her symptoms to exam stress but soon discovered it was much more serious.

Amanda told The Sun: "Meanwhile, I was in Spain filming and started receiving calls from various government officials, as we had to complete forms about what she might have eaten, what food we had in the house, and so on.

"But we were still unaware of what the illness could actually be or where it had originated from. The cultures eventually identified it as VTEC E. coli, a very harmful strain of bacteria that is rare in humans. At that time, there was no news coverage of this, so we couldn’t understand how it had happened."

Despite multiple tests, the source of Lexi's infection remained unclear, and her condition worsened as antibiotics proved ineffective.

Amanda added: "I was driving home one day with my youngest, Hollie, when the doctor called and said: 'I don’t want to alarm you, Amanda, but Lexi’s blood results and other indicators are alarmingly high. You need to monitor her temperature closely as she’s at risk of sepsis.'”

The TV star stayed in hospital all day with Lexi, while Chris took over later. During this period, Amanda managed only about two hours of sleep a night, but her focus was solely on Lexi’s recovery.

Her daughter had a fever of 39 degrees Celsius and was extremely hot, and Amanda described it as "awful seeing her in so much pain."

Lexi was eventually identified as the 113th case in the country. She has been discharged but continues to return to the hospital due to raised inflammation markers.

She may now require an endoscopy, as she could be left with ongoing issues due to the destructive bacteria.