This stunning model who gave up a career in Belgium to move to Turkey and live with her boyfriend where she was badly beaten and hospitalised has taken up kickboxing after vowing “never again”.

Blonde Ipek Donmezer, whose age was not revealed, said she decided to move to the western Turkish city of Eskisehir four years ago after falling madly in love with a local man.

However, the dream soon became a nightmare after the man proved to be possessive and violent, and when the relationship ended he allegedly attacked her so violently she thought she was going to die.

She said: “I was hospitalised for a week. I had severe injuries. We were together for a year. I was disappointed, but later I felt furious.”

The model then took up martial arts after vowing she never wanted to be subjected to the same abuse again, winning numerous honours and awards and earning the nickname ‘Killer Blonde’.

Speaking about how kickboxing has given her back her life, she said: “Women must first have self-confidence. Then they have to learn how to defend themselves. Any woman can do this. Many women today are afraid of kickboxing, but they can be good at it within six months. They just need to trust themselves.”

She added that it was also empowering that many people seemed to be inspired by her determination to “never again” become a victim of domestic violence.

She said: “I receive a lot of messages from social media. People I don’t know write to me to say ‘we are proud of you’. When I read them, I feel very proud of myself and can say to myself ‘I have achieved something’.

“I have a few friends who have been subjected to violence by their exes. Unfortunately, they made up with those men who were violent to them, and they regretted it again.

“Women are not delicate flowers as men say. Women are strong and capable of everything.

“I was once a victim of violence by her boyfriend, but now people call me as ‘Killer Blonde’ and ‘Xena’.

Donmezer won several competitions after taking up kickboxing, and now works as a coach training others to learn the sport after an injury forced her to give up competitions.