Palmer United Party Senator Jacqui Lambie has spoken about her struggle with being an unemployed single mother, revealing she previously struggled with drug and alcohol addiction.

On an episode of ABC’s Australian Story program last night, Ms Lambie also revealed she wanted PUP leader Clive Palmer to be more honest with her.

The newcomer to politics spoke about the depression she faced after being discharged from the army on medical grounds with no financial support.

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“I got worse. Then the psychological side of it started to set in. Depression, basically,” Ms Lambie said.

“And then, you know, eventually over five or six years then it went into alcohol abuse, pharmaceutical abuse.”

Ms Lambie used her maiden speech in parliament last week to call for an inquiry into abuse and cover-ups in the defence force and the Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

The 43-year-old, who is regularly in the media for her outlandish remarks, revealed she sought psychological help and stopped abusing alcohol after a failed suicide-attempt.

“I’d written a letter to the boys each and left them in my drawer and said, “Right, here’s a perfect opportunity.” I had a few drinks and off I went. I walked out in front of a car. I’d had enough, I’d had a gutful. That was it, I was finished, I was gone.”

“So then I got the psychological help over the next 18 months. They were able to put me onto a great pain management specialist and then that’s when everything started to turn around for me.”

The Tasmanian Senator also revealed she had experienced ‘teething problems’ with Clive Palmer.

“I think Clive Palmer needs to be a lot more honest across the table with me and stop clowning around at times, because that really annoys me,” Ms Lambie said.

“I don’t back down to Clive Palmer and I shouldn’t have to. Even a billionaire needs to be told, every now and then.”

She told the ABC she was motivated to enter politics to help others like her, and had a great deal of respect for Mr Palmer, calling him her mentor.

“I think when it comes to Clive, the most impressive thing is: it’s his knowledge. I was actually in awe of him, to be honest. I just thought, “Yep, you’re the real deal.”

“I need to keep Clive Palmer off the Tim Tams so I can keep him alive long enough to keep mentoring me, would be great.”

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