BRAVE burns sufferer Adele Pope is baring her scars and talking about how her life has been affected in a leading woman’s magazine which comes out today.

Adele, 21, of Wheathampstead, is one of four women whose bodies all bear scars and appear in the August issue of Cosmopolitan.

She was left with severe scarring to her back and arms after suffering an epileptic fit in the shower when she was 15.

As she fell, she knocked the hot tap and lay unconscious with boiling water pouring over her for several minutes before she was found by her parents.

Adele was in a coma for five days and was left with nearly half her body scalded. She was in hospital for nearly six weeks and has spent years in and out receiving reconstructive treatment and skin grafts. She told the magazine: “Having scars like this is like wearing your life story on your body all the time – of course people stare, but I like to think it’s out of concern, not because they’re horrified.”

Adele said she had suffered emotional scars as well and was horrified when she first saw her reflection after leaving hospital.

She added: “But while the scars shape the person I am, I don’t dwell on them. I’ve always been determined not to let them affect what I wear – if I like the strapless option then I’ll just wear it anyway.

“I’ve still got the skimpy striped bikini I wore on holiday to France when I was 17, for example, to remind me to stay strong.”

Adele is an ambassador for the Katie Piper Foundation which supports people with burns and scars.