Brought up in Rusper, Surrey by a singer father and an artist mother, she was always expected to do something creative.
“I was a bit of a couch potato,” explains Lucy.
“Then I went on a couple of cadet camps and it made me realise I wanted to do something to challenge myself.”
It was on one of these camps in Redhill, Surrey that 15-year-old Lucy met her childhood sweetheart Mike Lee.
They quickly became inseparable and their relationship flourished, despite Mike signing up to the Army aged 18 and being posted to Botswana.
He flew back to the UK on Lucy’s 18th birthday to propose and the couple celebrated with a big party for all their family and friends.
“He was the kindest, most beautiful soul and my parents loved him as if he was their own son,” says Lucy.
Now 45, she can remember her first day in the Army in July 1989 as if it were yesterday.
“I turned up at the camp in Aldershot with my double-barrelled name, dragging a wheeled suitcase and wearing a floral dress.
“Stepping inside the complex I came face to face with 25 girls with skinheads, tattoos and massive rucksacks. I thought, ‘What have I done?’”
But there was no turning back and Lucy got stuck into the rigours of army life, quickly becoming addicted to the buzz of the challenging fitness regime.
“We ran every day, often doing a mile and a half in under 12 minutes.
Then came press-ups, burpees and lots of other intense exercises,” she says.
“There were no excuses, you couldn’t get out of it. I realised then it is only when you’re pushed to the limits that you discover how capable you are.”
Being pushed out of her comfort zone made Lucy realise her own strength.
“I watched my body change and get stronger. My arms were defined and I had a flat, toned stomach.
“But the biggest change was mental and I realised I could be strong, fit and independent.”
In two years Lucy was promoted to corporal and tasked with whipping new recruits into shape.
BUT ON August 20 1992, three years after Lucy joined, her time in the Army came to an unexpected and devastating end.
The doorbell rang in her barracks and when she answered she was greeted by a man dressed in formal military uniform.
“He asked me if I was Corporal Wyndham-Read, which I confirmed, but he wouldn’t say any more,” says Lucy.
Moments later her parents’ car pulled up and she knew something terrible had happened.
“Mike had been killed and they were all there to break the news to me,” she explains.
