Gemma Collins has admitted she thought that she was pregnant and her ‘waters had broken’ after struggling with incontinence while jumping on a trampoline.
The former TOWIE star, 43, shared her battles with the common ailment during an interview on Friday’s This Morning.
Gemma admitted that she ‘broke down in tears’ and feared she was ‘going to die’ after going to the bathroom and ‘seeing water’ following an incontinence leak, and added that her pelvic floor exercises have been ‘crucial’ in her recovery.
While urinary incontinence usually affects women following childbirth, it can be caused by other pressures such as weight gain and constipation.
Gemma told hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary that she first realised she had incontinence while visiting a trampoline park with her nephew Haydn and stepson Tristan, whose father is her fiancé Rami Hawash.
Gemma Collins has admitted she thought that she was pregnant and her ‘waters had broken’ after struggling with incontinence while jumping on a trampoline
She said: ‘I start jumping. All of a sudden the floodgates open. I’m in mid-air and I’m like, am I dying?’
‘I don’t want to ruin the kids’ day. I’m soaking wet and this is just shocking. So, I went to the loo and it was water. And then I was just like, ”I’m going to die.I need an operation. Something’s happened to me”.
‘I’m jumping mid-air, thinking ”am I’m pregnant and the water’s breaking?”. I’m so embarrassed. I’ve not even had kids yet.’
‘So, I was beside myself. I remember going home. My fiancé wanted to go for dinner that night. I was just feeling so low. I went into the bathroom. I started crying. I was like, my life’s over. It was just so bad.’
‘Then, obviously, I did my research and 1 in 55% of women in the UK are experiencing this. All shapes, all sizes, all ages. Opener to me as well. It’s affecting so many women’s confidence.
‘And like me, if I’m going on holiday, I want to do what the kids are doing. I want to go on the jet ski and, you know, be that fun person that I am.
‘But living with that fear that people have on a daily basis really affected my confidence.’
Despite fearing she would need surgery to treat the problem, Gemma confirmed that she’s significantly reduced her incontinence leaks with regular pelvic floor exercises.
The TOWIE star admitted that she ‘broke down in tears’ and feared she was ‘going to die’ after going to the bathroom and ‘seeing water’ following an incontinence leak
Despite fearing she would need surgery to treat the problem, Gemma said on Friday’s This Morning that she’s significantly reduced her incontinence with regular pelvic floor exercises
‘I have almost reversed my incontinence by 95% by doing my pelvic floors.
‘I was in Benidorm two days ago. I was laughing my head off. A little bit come out, but nothing like what it would normally do.’
Urinary incontinence is common, affecting an estimated seven million women in the UK, although accurate statistics are hard to come by because so many women are hesitant about talking about their problem.
It can occur at any time, although it becomes more common with age.
‘What Gemma experiences is something called stress incontinence, triggered by a weakening of the pelvic floor beneath her bladder, bowels and womb which causes urine to leak out,’ Myra Robson, a pelvic health physiotherapist at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, previously told MailOnline in 2023.
This typically occurs as a result of childbirth. The weight of carrying a baby weakens the pelvic floor, the hammock-like band of muscle that runs from the pelvic bone at the front to the tail bone at the back and which helps keep the entrance to the bladder firmly shut. When under pressure — for example, during a coughing fit — urine can leak.
Yet while it’s a common problem for mothers, it can also affect those like Gemma who haven’t had children.
Chronic constipation, severe coughing, a significant increase in weight over a sustained period, and lifting heavy weights in the gym, can also trigger it, explains Myra Robson.
These all cause pressure in the abdomen, in turn putting pressure on the bladder and, ‘unless the pelvic floor is giving the requisite support’, it can lead to leaks, adds Gill Davey, a continence nurse for Bladder Health UK.
‘Gemma’s experience is very usual,’ she says. ‘The problem can be exacerbated with age and particularly after the menopause when the body is no longer naturally producing the oestrogen that helps strengthen the pelvic floor, which is wrapped around the urethra [the tube that exits the bladder] and has an opening and closing mechanism known as the sphincter.
‘When the plumpness of the pelvic floor is weakened from lack of oestrogen, it [the sphincter] won’t always close efficiently.’
The cause in Gemma’s case is not clear.
In 2015, then aged 34, she underwent a well-publicised non-surgical procedure to rejuvenate her labia — ‘a designer vagina’ — but she’s been assured that, as a cosmetic treatment, it had no effect on her pelvic floor.
How to protect your pelvic floor
Pelvic floor exercises involve a squeeze and lift of your pelvic floor — it should feel as if you’re about to pass wind in a social situation and you’re tightening the muscles around the back passage to avoid embarrassment, says pelvic health physiotherapist Myra Robson.
‘Or imagine stopping yourself half way through having a wee as if you were doing a urine test.’
There are two types of pelvic floor exercise, she explains.
‘First, a slow one, holding for about ten seconds, relaxing between each one and repeating ten times.
‘The fast one involves squeezing and letting go at a rate of one per second, again for ten times. All adult women should exercise their pelvic floor three times a day for the rest of their lives.’
But, if for some reason you can’t feel your muscles when you do these exercises or you experience any pain or discomfort, she recommends seeing a pelvic health physio through a referral from your GP.
Or download the Squeezy app, devised by physiotherapists and available for £2.99 on iPhone and Android.
And try to protect your pelvic floor. Continence nurse Gill Davey is at pains to stress the importance of good habits when urinating to reduce any strain on it.
‘Be sure to empty your bladder fully,’ she says. ‘Drink lots of water throughout the day to keep everything functioning properly.
‘Also, don’t strain if you’re wanting to empty your bowels because that could damage those areas and loosen the pelvic floor.’
