When they jetted home from Mykonos, she and her family started feeling ill. They were tested and within 24 hours they received the news they had coronavirus.
Dawn, her husband Ashley Ward, and their two youngest daughters 49, Charlie (13), and Aston (11) have since been self-isolating at home at their Warford Hall mansion.
"I think we definitely caught it while we were away," Dawn revealed, who has been isolating for a week.
"When the results come back you think 'oh my gosh.' You're waiting to not be able to breathe but fortunately that hasn't happened," she told Manchester Evening News.
Dawn and Ashley have suffered headaches, fever, high temperature, sweats, and stomach cramps, and former footballer Ashley has also had a cough and tight chest.
Charlie also had a temperature and suffered from aches and tiredness, and their youngest daughter Aston suffered headaches.
Dawn and Ashley also have two older daughters Darby (24), and Taylor (22). However, Taylor tested positive for the virus before the lockdown. She has since recovered.
"Some people say it's a load of rubbish but it's not. You're up and then 30 minutes later you feel shocking again," said Dawn. "It's one step forward and two steps back."
"It isn't like flu or a cold. You're not sneezing and there's no phlegm. It's completely different," she continued. "Within 30 minutes you're floored and shivering."
"Ashley says his headaches are like the time he had meningitis," Ward told Manchester Evening News. "He had meningitis in 1997 and he says it's as bad."
Dawn had to step away from filming the show's upcoming twelfth season until she recovers. She added, "I used to think 'I'm not going to get it.' But how wrong was I?"
Photo Credit: ITVBe; Dawn Ward/Instagram
