BRAVE actress Jess Impiazzi wept as she told partner Jermaine Pennant she feared she was dying.

For months her hair had been falling out, she had developed a strange rash and, on one terrifying occasion, she coughed up blood.

Terrified Jess, 34, broke down in tears to ex-footballer Jermaine, ­sobbing: “I think I might be dying.”

She told the Sun on Sunday: “My body was just completely failing me and I couldn’t get any answers.

“I was tired all the time, aching all over and then this angry rash appeared on my chest and face.

“One day I started coughing up blood, which was incredibly scary. I thought it was stomach cancer.

“Then I started panicking that it was multiple autoimmune.

“We looked it up and the life expectancy was six years. We both sat there and I burst out crying. ­Jermaine also got really upset.”

Finally, in July, Jess was told she was suffering from lupus, a serious but less dangerous autoimmune condition, in which the body’s immune system attacks its own tissue and organs.

Jess’s crippling symptoms started in January, one month after she had her breast implants replaced when one of them ruptured.

She had them put in when she was an ­insecure 18-year-old but now fears that her condition could be linked to her latest boob surgery.

Jess said: “I know there is a lot of controversy around breast implant illness but I was healthy before this rupture.

“I had the new ones put in and my health has been dropping until every bodily function has been attacked by my own system.

“The one thing that’s changed is my breasts.

“I don’t want it to be my boobs — they cost money and I love them.

“I was very ­insecure about my body when I was younger and was often teased at school because I had no boobs.”

Jess has now set a date to have her breast implants removed and is being supported every step of the way by TalkSport pundit Jermaine, 40.

She said: “My consultant said that there is a link between silicone and autoimmune diseases. Why else would my body start attacking itself?

“I’m not prepared for any more of my body to go down. Living like this is not a life. It’s hard.

“My whole body is attacking every healthy system. My fertility, my eyesight, my brain fog, my digestive system — everything. My fingers, my toes, my neck.

“My muscles just start to spasm, I’ll get this lump in my neck and I can’t do anything.

“I’m going to lose my boobs and my hair is ­falling out. What next?”

Former Liverpool and Birmingham City winger Jermaine gave up alcohol completely this summer to support Jess in her health battle.

“Jermaine and I have already been through so much together,” she said.

“He’s gone teetotal. He’s not had a drink since June.

“We just want to get healthy and eventually try for a family but ­obviously that’s all on hold at the moment because of the lupus.

“I said to Jermaine, ‘How will you feel when I have the implants taken out?’ He joked, ‘Luckily, I’m a bum man’.

“He’s been incredible throughout all this, and it’s just brought us even closer, but I’ve really struggled. I’m keeping a gratitude journal, but it’s been so tough.”

Jess discovered in March that she has a shortage of eggs in her ovaries, making it much harder for her to get pregnant and setting her on track for an early menopause.

So she underwent her first round of IVF a month later, only to have that derailed by the lupus diagnosis.