Lottie Tomlinson says having children has "healed" part of her, after she lost her mother and sister

Lottie - who is the younger sister of One Direction star Louis Tomlinson, 33 - was 18 years old when her mum Johannah Deakin died from leukaemia in 2016, aged 43, and three years later her younger sister Félicité died, aged 18, from an accidental drug overdose.

She told the Daily Mail newspaper: "I think the most rewarding part is definitely, I just love being their everything.

"You know, being that person who is their comfort blanket.

"It's such a nice feeling as a mum and as a parent to have that, and I think it definitely heals part of me that you know, I've grieved since losing my mum, now that I'm a mum myself."

Last year, Lottie told how she stepped into a maternal role, for the sake of her younger siblings, following her mum's death, but she was sent back to "square one" of grief three years later when her sister Félicité passed away.

Speaking on TV show Lorraine, she told stand-in host Christine Lampard: "I think it was such a natural instinct for me [to take over] and credit my mum for that.

"She instilled this maternal instinct into us all and when something like that happens, you go into a survival mode and straight away I knew that the little ones needed me and I wanted to do whatever I could to make things easier for them.

"It kind of just came naturally but it was such a life-changing experience for me to have that responsibility and I think it's really set the tone for everything that's happened since.

"I think it was really hard that we knew we were going to have to go back to square one.

"When something as big as losing a parent happens, you never expect it to get any worse than that.

"And then it did.

"So, it was a really tough time for the whole family, but we've really stuck together and we've managed to come out the other side."