Heather Maltman may have had a troubled childhood but African orphans really do it tough

HEATHER Maltman has detailed her troubled childhood, revealing she would go to school without food and even slept in cars to survive.

HEATHER Maltman has detailed her troubled childhood, revealing she would go to school without food and even slept in cars to survive.

The admission came after News Corp spent time with Maltman at the Seeds of Light orphanage and drop in centre, near Kruger National Park in South Africa.

“We grew up in a lot of housing commission houses,” the actor and former Bachelor star said of her childhood.

“We moved over 16 times before I was 12 and that doesn’t include living in cars, caravans and sometimes not even that, closer to being on the street like homeless.”

Heather Maltman at a South African orphanage in a break from shooting I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here Now! Picture: Benjamin Stavert

Maltman, 30, spent time at the drop in centre in a break from filming I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here Now! with Joel Creasey.

The facility is a not-for-profit with some 211 kids frequenting its doors and more than 300 on the waiting list.

The centre provides schooling as well as food programs and activities for the children.

Of the kids there, more than 50 per cent are HIV positive and many of their parents died from the illness.

Heather Maltman gets her hair done by one of the children at the orphanage. Picture: Benjamin Stavert

“It just blew my mind,” she said.

“At the end of the day I just want people in Australia to be able to relate to what we saw and the best way to do that is sharing some of myown experiences.

“I may have gone a couple of days here or there without eating but these kids don’t know if they’re going to eat for the entire week or if they’ll make it through the rest of the year because the health situation is that bad and that ignored.

“I know what it’s like to be that kid needing help and people turn their heads, that is what these kids deal with every day.”

Many of the children are HIV positive and lost parents to the illness. Picture: Benjamin Stavert

Maltman grew up in Queensland with an older sister, raised by their mother. She wasn’t able to search for her father until later in life.

“I started modelling and worked at a pizza shop to pay to finish my own high school,” she recalled.

“Even though I failed I got through and finished (school) and I paid for it myself.

“Everything I’ve earnt up until today has been because I refused to live that life anymore and the same with my sister.

“We’ve managed to turn our whole lives around and we had to do it on our own.”

Happy faces of some of the children at the orphanage. Picture: Benjamin Stavert

She added: “Our mum did the best that she could with what she had available while ever she was in my life.

“There were days I went to school with no food, dirty uniforms and that whole bit because there was no food and no money to buy food.

“The hardest part is people didn’t want to get involved because they knew that if they got involved, they’d have to look deeper into why this was happening and they didn’t want to do that.”

Maltman is having almost as much fun as the kids! Picture: Benjamin Stavert