collins

Gemma let the cameras follow her as she and partner Rami had IVF and planned their wedding but she says the results show ‘a real nightmare’ of a year

Gemma Collins’ new series Four Weddings and a Baby will see her breaking down in agony after fearing that her mother Joan was at death’s door last year.

Launching the new show Gemma, 45, said it would give a warts and all look at her life over a year. Speaking to Dermot O’Leary at a Sky event in London, she explained: “During making the show my mum nearly died, my relationship was obviously taking a bit of a hit, I was trying to have a baby – my whole world just fell apart.

“Because I was going through so much trauma and struggles, there was no performative person there. Everyone gets to see the real me – you’re in my home. It’s what people don’t see. I was broken.”

She explained that the reality series would be very different to TOWIE and other programmes she has appeared on. “I’m used to being very performative. The camera goes on, The GC comes out, boomshackalack, that’s really how it is. Hold on to your seats because you never know what’s going to happen!

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“But this is a show where I’m trying to have a baby, I’m trying to get married and none of it goes smooth. It’s a nightmare. But it’s not a comical nightmare it’s a real nightmare.”

The series is due to launch on Sky Max later this year. In one clip, Gemma is seen weeping while driving as she explains to the camera how Joan is in hospital and in a very bad way, having caught pneumonia and suffering from a “build up of fluid”.

She explains: “My mum has suffered with chronic illness for 10 years. This is not my first rodeo with her. However, this one has to be the worst. It’s making me realise that mum might not have a lot of time left.”

Viewers will also be able to follow Gemma’s attempt to conceive using IVF, with fiancé Rami Hawash, and also their attempt to organise a wedding. But in another clip she sobs: “Having a baby is not easy. You don’t want to be making the wrong decisions in your life. Then I think f*** it – if mum hasn’t got long left – do I just spend my life with my mum, you know? And then just not have a baby, not get married.”

She told Dermot that the aim of the series was to be “a bit more vulnerable and honest”, adding: “It’s me not having any control over my life, any control over the cameras. It’s very raw.

“Family have always been everything to me, which people haven’t seen, but I think it’s OK to show people you are human? Nothing’s perfect, life’s not perfect and maybe that will resonate.”

Asked how Joan, 70, is doing now, Gemma said that she has moved in to her house and has carers who come regularly. “I’m just so grateful for every day I get to spend with her,” Gemma said. Another clip from the upcoming series shows how the Essex favourite tried to prepare for her second stint in I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.

In a bid to become less fearful, she invites a snake-handler round to her house and admits the thing she is most afraid of is “a snake wrapping itself around my neck” The woman gives assurance that Gemma won’t be given “anything that’s going to hurt you”. But when the snake is placed around her shoulders it flicks its tail into her face, leaving her sweating and saying: “F***, f***, f***.”

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Kelly: Let’s try and get to know you a little bit more away from the pitch. Firstly, I always like asking: what were you like as a youngster?

Nathan: If you asked my mam or dad, they’d say I was a headcase! I was just a bit itchy, I always had to move. I could never sit still and relax. I always had to do something. So they had to burn me out. I always wanted to be in the grass or playing football, just running around to drain my energy. I think I was hard work for my parents, I’d say it like that!

Kelly: It sounds like maybe it was quite a chaotic household. How many siblings have you got?

Nathan: I’ve got an older brother, a younger sister and a younger brother. I think it was just a constant battle of me trying to beat my older brother. It was just so hard because the age difference. We all had training at different times and they’d be running out of the house and you’d forget your boots or they’d be taking two cars in different directions. It was a bit of a carnage, but you wouldn’t have it any other way.

Kelly: Are you still close now?

Nathan: Ah yeah, of course. I talk to them more or less every day on the phone. Every chance I get to go home I will. My mam goes to every game – home and away. She watches them all.

Kelly: So she flies over? Are they still in Ireland?

Nathan: Yeah, they live in Ireland, so she flies over and she goes everywhere to be fair.

Kelly: Home and away?

Nathan: Yeah.

Kelly: That is some commitment!

Nathan: I know, I tell her, ‘listen, you don’t have to’ and she’s like, ‘no, I want to’.

Kelly: Not everyone’s got a son that’s a Premier League footballer though… I kind of get the appeal!

Nathan: Yeah, I don’t think that she watches the matches. I think that she just looks at me the whole game and sees what I’m doing. She’ll come after, ‘Why were you scratching your leg so much in the match?’ … ‘I don’t know. How do you know that?’

Kelly: Aw, bless her, that’s really sweet. How would your best friend describe you?

Nathan: I’d like to think that they’d describe me as the same lad I was growing up. The first thing that would pop in their head… they wouldn’t say I’m a footballer. I think they’d just say, ‘ah Nathan, he’s just a good lad like… he’s a bit of craic and he comes out when he can’ … but I don’t think that they’d look at me as a footballer, which I really enjoy. And it just means when I’m with them, I can just be myself and just enjoy being one of the lads.

Kelly: So if the manager gives you a day off, what would you do?

Nathan: It depends. If it’s a weekday and it’s good weather, I’ll play golf with a few of the lads here and we’ll get out in the sun.

Kelly: Are you any good?

Nathan: I’m all right. Listen, I can play. I’m not the greatest, but I’m not the worst.

Kelly: Who do you play with here?

Nathan: The group right now is me, Keane Lewis-Potter, Kris Ajer, Hakon Valdimarsson. It’s a good crew because we have a lot of players and we do a little Ryder Cup-style.

Kelly: Oh nice!

Nathan: So it’s staff v players.

Kelly: Wow!

Nathan: Yeah, because there’s a lot of players. We did that last year. We did 18 holes in the morning, we went for some lunch, and then we did 18 holes in the afternoon and it was really good fun. Players won, so thank God!

Kelly: Oh, that was my next question. Have you got any secret hobbies?

Nathan: I like cooking, so that’s something. When I cook, I think I just forget about everything. I’m just in my own little zone and my head kind of goes quiet, which is nice.

Kelly: Are you a good cook?

Nathan: It depends who you ask…

Kelly: If I was asking your girlfriend…

Nathan: Yeah, she’s actually saying: ‘Ah, you’re getting better at cooking!’

Kelly: That’s a bit patronising!

Nathan: Yeah, and I was like… ‘Does that mean I was bad?’

Kelly: Fair enough. What do people get wrong about you the most?

Nathan: Maybe I get a bit of stereotypical: ‘Ah, he’s just a footballer.’ Maybe they get that and then think, ‘oh, he’s actually pretty nice to talk to… he’s all right… he’s kind of relaxed… he’s chill’.

I always want to be just a good person as well. That’s important for me, just to be a nice person, a good person, a caring person. As much as I want to be the best footballer I can ever be, I also want to be the best person I can be and I think that’s something that I always strive towards as well.

Kelly: What’s the toughest moment of your career been? Has there been a tough moment?

Nathan: I had one game for Brentford against Wolves and I had two mistakes in the game. I gave away two goals, we lost 3-1 or something like that and I got battered off the Wolves fans because I’d just left Wolves and the fans had so much to go against me, so much stick. I was like, ‘oh my God, this couldn’t have got any worse’.

To be fair, that night Thomas Frank rang me and he was like, ‘listen Nathan, that’s probably the worst game you’ll ever have in your career’, and he’s like, ‘so it’s only up from here’.

GEMMA Collins has won £20k at the Cheltenham races and made £5k off of just one bet.

The reality star, 45, was left overjoyed today when she raked in the cash and took home the huge amount of money.

A source told The Sun: “Gemma was over the moon and kept showing her wads of cash to James Nesbitt in the Paddy Power box. She made £20k the whole day – and £5k off one £500 bet.”

In an exclusive video obtained by The Sun, Gemma was seen shouting: “I’m f***ing loaded!,” as she revelled in her glory, before adding: “I’m coming home with 20 large ones.”

She took to Instagram to give fans a peek into her winnings as she showcased just one of her successful betting slips.

On the slip, it revealed that the former TOWIE star had won £5k from a £500 bet.

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The television icon wrote over it: “I won @paddypowerofficial. Best day ever!,” alongside horse and four leaf clover emojis.

Gemma certainly looked the part at the Cheltenham Festival as she stunned while standing on a balcony with pals.

She kept warm in an eye-catching blue and purple checked coat with brown fur sleeves and a belt which perfectly synched in her waist.

She accessorised with a white and red headscarf and a pair of blacked out sunglasses.

Her winning moment was captured as she enjoyed a glass of bubbly and was hugged by friends surrounding her.

One of those people was Danny Dyer, who was seen throwing up a fist in celebration for the Celebrity Big Brother star.

In true Gemma fashion, she was spotted looking very animated as she celebrated her exciting victory.

Her big win comes after she was announced as part of the line-up for the second series of I’m A Celebrity… South Africa.

The show was filmed last year and will see familiar faces return for a second stint on the hit ITV series.

After it was announced earlier this week, Gemma revealed she nearly pulled out of it but was put in her place by her make-up artist.

Speaking at the press launch, Gemma said: “It didn’t work out for me the first time around in there and ever since it’s been like this black cloud hanging over my head.

“Obviously I’m older now and I just thought, I have to do this. It was one regret that I had that I left.

“I was absolutely bricking it. I was petrified. My makeup artist slapped me at Heathrow Airport because I actually said I don’t think I can actually go through with this.

“But do you know what? I took a deep breath. I went in strong. And to be honest, I think I shut it down.

“It’s not the GC in there. It’s Gemma Collins as you’ve never seen her before. You’ll see me vulnerable in there.

“I was so stripped bare going in there. And because I knew it was so disastrous the time before, I had no chance to back out of any of it.”

“The one thing that troubled me was the copious amounts of washing up,” said Gemma.

“I was on camp duty with Adam and obviously, it was a massive camp, and I’m not going to lie, I’ve got two dishwashers at home.”

ITV viewers will remember Gemma’s meltdown back in 2014 and refusal to get into a helicopter to get into camp on day one.

She was then forced to make her own way to camp, but things went from bad to worse.

After struggling with camp life and the food rations, she sensationally quit the series on day two.