Bobby Norris Reveals All Amid Controversy

It was among the saddest conversations I’ve ever had with a celebrity.

In August 2020, while we were both holidaying on the idyllic Greek island of Mykonos, I found myself having an impromptu – but very welcome – dinner with The Only Way Is Essex star .

The setting was beautiful; a stunning, very expensive restaurant called Sea Satin, on the edge of the Aegean near the Cycladic island’s famous windmills.

Bobby was there with his best friend and fellow star , who was in the middle of a difficult split from her then-boyfriend, James ‘Arg’ Argent. But so concerned had she been about Bobby that, despite her own obvious upset, she had decided to take him with her for a much-needed breather in Mykonos.

As a trio that night, we had giggled as they described sharing Gemma’s room in her five-star hotel. I had also listened to Gemma with growing sympathy as she documented in detail what she had been subjected to during her relationship with Arg, and her sadness at enduring a miscarriage.

But what struck me the most that night was that, when I looked at Bobby, I realised that he was a very troubled man indeed.

After a few more drinks, the star – who has appeared on various reality shows such as Celebs Go Dating, Celebrity Ghost Hunt and Celebs On The Farm – confided that he had been struggling with depression.

He confessed that former car saleswoman Gemma, who may be outwardly brash but is extremely kind, had been desperately worried about him and had insisted he joined her on that holiday.

It was five months after the start of the Covid pandemic and whether those difficult days of lockdown had played a role is anyone’s guess. But Bobby admitted that, in an attempt to resolve the deep-rooted anxiety he felt over his appearance following the online trolling he had received after starring in TOWIE, he had been attempting a body transformation. At that point, he told me he had been working out to achieve his goal.

He was so down that I genuinely feared for him. I suggested then that he consider taking a break from the limelight – clearly, it was something he was struggling with.

Only a few months earlier, Bobby had bravely told MPs that cruel online attacks had inflicted a terrible toll on his mental health, saying: ’It’s sparked my anxiety – I know it’s caused a lot of people problems.’ 

And last week I was reminded of that candid conversation when he appeared on ITV’s This Morning to unveil his facelift, aged just 39. There, on the sofa talking to the show’s hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shepherd, he calmly explained why he’d taken such a drastic step: namely, that ‘abusing fillers’ for ten years had left his skin ‘like a deflated balloon’.

The results of the procedure, which left Bobby looking almost unrecognisable from the man I met six years ago, has prompted much shock among his fans and followers.

He had travelled to Turkey in March for the surgery, he said, and was ‘still swollen’. Along with a facelift he’d had his neck lifted – an operation that involved tightening and repositioning muscles and skin for a more youthful appearance – and a lower blepharoplasty, which reduces under-eye bags and puffiness.

Some of his former colleagues were also stunned and concerned by the drastic move. That he isn’t yet 40 only adds to their worry.

As my TOWIE insider says: ‘He’s a lovely, lovely guy but he didn’t adjust to the whole fame thing as well as some of us, and that was troubling.

‘Putting yourself out there is hard, you are under constant scrutiny and Bobby found it impossible to take the criticism sometimes. The trolling really affected him.’

I recall Gemma once telling me that she wouldn’t take her eyes off Bobby, so troubled was she by his frame of mind. She was the most loyal friend he could have wished for – but today they no longer speak after one of their fallouts several years ago was too severe to fix.

Fans of Gemma and Bobby will know they had an explosive history on the show, and often got caught up in brutal rows, though she has now confessed that she would prompt the bust-ups so he got more airtime.

Speaking on the Wright At Home podcast, she told listeners that she has tried to call him, but to no avail.

‘I’d love to see Bobby again,’ she said. ‘I don’t know where he is. I did call him with [TOWIE co-star] Chloe Sims, ’cause when she comes over from LA, she doesn’t live far from us actually…

‘I said, “Come on, let’s ring Bob.” Did he answer? No.’

Responding on his social media, Bobby said that Gemma has so many different contact numbers that he can’t get hold of her.

He said: ‘Someone’s just come running up to me and gone, “Bob. Bobby, you’ve got to call Gemma Collins. Call Gem!”

‘I’ve legit got 37 numbers for Gemma, so I could legit contact Marilyn Monroe on a Ouija board quicker than I could get hold of Gem.’

After seeing just how much Gemma cared for Bobby that night in 2020, I do hope he manages to find the right number for her – and to perhaps heed the advice I gave him then. The limelight can be a cruel and unforgiving place if you feel under scrutiny.

And sometimes, stepping back is the best thing you can do.