In candid episodes of the Mail’s Everything I Know About Me podcast Gemma Collins opens up about her journey to fame, the highs and lows of her love life and everything in between.
In a no-filter look at the 43-year-old’s life, in the chats Gemma reveals she was advised to terminate a pregnancy after learning her unborn baby was intersex.
Elsewhere Gemma also shares insight into her childhood growing up in Essex, candidly detailing the bullying she endured at school and her stalker struggles over the years.
The TV personality also opens up on her struggles with self-harming during her teenage years, detailing how she would take slimming pills when she was just 13 years old after facing cruel jibes about her weight.
So here we take a look at the highlights from an incredible series of podcast episodes with Gemma:
Gemma terminated a pregnancy after learning her unborn baby was a ‘hermaphrodite’
Gemma revealed she was advised to terminate a pregnancy after learning her unborn baby was intersex.
Speaking in episode one of the new Everything I Know About Me podcast, the former TOWIE star broke down in tears as she claimed doctors advised her to end the pregnancy when she was in her twenties.
‘Hermaphrodite’ is a term that is no longer used because it to be deemed misleading and stigmatising.
Instead, intersex, is the correct medical definition for an organism that produces both male and female reproductive organs.
The condition of being ‘Intersex’ affects one in every 2,000 births in the UK (although figures may be much higher) and there are an estimated 30,000 intersex people in the UK.
Gemma revealed she was advised to terminate a pregnancy after learning her unborn baby was intersex
Gemma ’embarrassed’ for getting back with jailbird ex after he attacked her
Gemma admitted she felt ’embarrassed’ for choosing to rekindle her romance with her ex-boyfriend Alex Moss, after he attacked her just a day before she appeared on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!
She shared insight into her short-lived stint on the ITV show in the second podcast episode.
Gemma revealed that she was violently attacked just an hour before a taxi was due to pick her up so she could travel to Australia to appear on I’m A Celeb in 2014.
She said: ‘I should have pressed charges but young, stupid obviously then I’m famous, I don’t want to bring too much attention to it. I stupidly got back with the person and yeah, I remember that being really stressful.’
Despite much fanfare around her appearance, Gemma lasted just 72 hours in the jungle before pulling out of the show, and has now admitted that after backlash from the public over her short stint on the show, she was left ‘wanting to die’
At the time Gemma faced relentless ridicule after she was seen shedding tears over the prospect of jumping from a helicopter and the lack of tasty treats on offer, but she’s now offered insight into the turmoil she faced just hours before the show.
Gemma dated convicted drug dealer Alex Moss for six months in 2014, and has now admitted she felt ‘shame’ for keeping her attack ordeal a secret
Gemma claims she ‘never wanted’ to make ‘painful’ show about her teenage self-harm
Gemma claimed she never wanted to make a show about her teenage self-harm during an appearance on the podcast.
In 2022, Gemma was asked by Channel 4 to make the show, Gemma Collins: Self Harm and Me, about her problem with cutting herself when she was a teenager.
But she claimed she ‘never wanted to do it’ as she was worried her mother would have to deal with difficult questions she wasn’t ready for.
She said: ‘I never wanted to do it. I wasn’t ready to deal with it and I didn’t want to drag it up because it was very painful.
‘I did it in the end because a production company promised me the earth and I had another channel saying, “You’ll get this and that, just please do the self-harm show”.
‘If you’re going to give me something, I’ll give you something – but I never got that something back.
‘I’m one of the strongest out of the reality stars and yet people still tried it on with me.’
Gemma claimed she never wanted to make a show about her teenage self-harm during an appearance on the podcast
Gemma’s 68-year-old mother Joan, with whom she has a close relationship, was featured in the documentary and quizzed as to why she didn’t do more to support her daughter during the self-harm.
In the documentary, Joan’s defense was, “Life was busy and everything was going on and you seemed ok.”
Reflecting on the scene, Gemma told the Everything I Know About Me podcast: ‘I know what the show was doing and it wasn’t the truth.
‘We were led up the garden path, they tried to mug my mum off.
‘My mum doesn’t want to hear her daughter self-harmed. She wasn’t to blame for it, but that’s what the show was indicating and she said to me she would never go on television again.
‘She was very upset and that’s why I will hold a vendetta against them [TV bosses] until the day that I die.
‘It was really sad listening to my mum saying to producers, “Oh, please, don’t do this or don’t do that. Please don’t make out I’m a bad person”.’
Gemma took slimming pills when she was 13 after bullying
Gemma opened up about her struggles with self-harming after being cruelly bullied at school.
She admitted that nasty jibes about her weight led her to take slimming pills when she was just 13 years old.
Gemma, who was brought up in Essex, revealed she was bullied by other students after moving to an all-girls school, and felt ‘a lot of pressure’ surrounding her appearance.
She added that she became ‘so unhappy’ that she would self-harm, and kept it a secret from her parents for many years.
Gemma opened up about her struggles with self-harming after being cruelly bullied at school. She admitted that nasty jibes about her weight led her to take slimming pills when she was just 13 years old
Gemma reveals her ex James Argent’s addiction issues meant they had to cancel joint reality show
Gemma revealed that she was meant to star in a joint reality show with her ex James Argent but he didn’t turn up to filming amid his addiction struggles.
She told how she burst into tears when he let her down – but insisted it ‘wasn’t his fault’ as he was ‘very unwell’.
Arg, 36, and Gemma briefly dated in 2012, before embarking on a tumultuous love story from December 2017. They split for good two years later.
He has been open about his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction over the years but is now healthy.
She noted their romance turned ‘very sour’ because of Arg’s drug addiction, insisting drugs ‘changed him as a person’.
Gemma revealed that she was meant to star in a joint reality show with her ex James Argent but he didn’t turn up to filming amid his addiction struggles
Gemma reveals her surrogacy plans so she can become a mum
Gemma revealed her plans to use the help of a surrogate if she cannot get pregnant naturally.
Speaking during a candid interview on the new Everything I Know About Me podcast, the former TOWIE star, 43, told how she could follow in the footsteps of stars such as Paris Hilton and Khloe Kardashian so she can have a family.
Gemma – who is engaged to her partner Rami Hawash – has spoken extensively about her struggles to conceive and her dream to have children.
She has now said of her approach to starting a family: ‘I’m not going to stress about it. You know, I don’t want the pressure.
‘Life’s you know, I met someone the other day that a child at 49. How lovely. You know? So we’ll see if not, I’ll get a surrogate the Kardashians done it. Paris Hilton done it. Gemma Collins can do it.’
She added that she has a low number of AMH hormone levels and so has a limited number of eggs available – before adding that she would ‘love’ baby but it’s just ‘not happening’.
And while she told how she would love a ‘little girl’ one day, she is a proud step-mum to Rami’s son already – five-year-old Tristan.
Gemma revealed in November she has begun a fertility journey in the hopes of having her first child with Rami, who has a son, Tristan, six, from a previous relationship (pictured)
Gemma reveals how her fiancé Rami Hawash won her back
Gemma revealed how her fiancé Rami Hawash won her back – just after splitting from his ex wife.
She told how Rami tried to woo her with Madonna tickets after they hadn’t spoken for nearly 10 years.
She sweetly said how it was ‘meant to be’ that they came back to each other after first meeting in 2011 – after Rami married and had a child with someone else.
Gemma said: ‘It was all meant to be. He rang me up out of the blue, and he went ‘Gemma Madonna’s in concert’.
‘I thought that’s a bit strong. I haven’t seen you for years. He’d gone and got married and I had a baby in that time. I mean, 10 years is a long time. So I didn’t ask too many questions.
‘And I was just like, ‘Oh, are you single RAM’ he’s like ‘yeah, yeah, Me and my partner, you know, are in the process of separating’. So I was like, well, I’ll meet up as a friend with you didn’t anything of it…’.
After they spent more and more time together before things eventually developed into a successful relationship.
Gemma revealed how her fiancé Rami Hawash won her back – just after splitting from his ex wife
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