Michelle Heaton admits she's more than a little overprotective of the three-piece; husband Hugh, daughter Faith and son AJ.

Michelle Heaton's husband and children, posing together inside OK! magazine, aren't just a family to her, but her 'team'.

That's why the former popstar now admits she's more than a little overprotective of the three-piece; husband Hugh, daughter Faith and son AJ.

The 36-year-old hopes that after this year she can put her surgery woes behind her and finally put a full stop to the impact of her mutated BRCA2 gene diagnosis from 2012.

Inviting the magazine into her home to capture an adorable family portrait, Michelle says: ‘I try not to be overprotective, because all kids get sick. 

'But because of everything that’s happened, I can’t have any more children so of course I’m a little bit more protective. This is my family now, my team, there’s no expanding it!’

The latest development in Michelle's human gene horror story was a hysterectomy last year, that shortly followed the birth of her second child and was motivated by the fear of leaving the pair without a mother.

Michelle previously underwent a preventative double mastectomy in 2012 when the diagnosis signalled an 80% chance of developing breast cancer and a 30% chance of ovarian cancer.

A further scare came this year when Michelle discovered two lumps on her chest, which luckily turned out to be benign.

She explained: ‘The fact that I’ve had the double mastectomy doesn’t mean that I’ll never ever get breast cancer, it just means that I’ve reduced my chances. The key is not to take things for granted, keep on checking and view life as precious.’

On her experiences, Michelle said: ‘I’m looking forward to putting a full stop after this year and moving onto the next – hopefully things will get better and better.’