Gemma Collins has an extremely difficult conversation with her mother, Joan, about her previous struggles with self-harming in her upcoming Channel 4 documentary Self-Harm And Me.
The one-hour film, which airs tonight, follows the former Towie star in conversation with her therapist, Mandy Saligari, as well as speaking about her self-harm with her loved ones, including her best friend and her fiancé, Rami Hawash.
She also meets people who have similar experiences and learns about some of the support available.
Sitting down with her mum to discuss why her parents didn’t approach her about her self-harming, despite hurting herself in front of them aged 13, Gemma says: ‘I obviously needed some sort of help or support at that time.’
‘Which you would have got if you just spoke about it,’ Joan responds. ‘When you done it, we didn’t want to bring attention to it.’
‘Your and dad’s approach was like, “let’s never mention it”,’ Gemma continues.
‘Life was busy,’ Gemma’s mum retorts, with her daughter firing back: ‘But what’s more important, life being busy or your daughter cutting themselves?’
‘You seemed okay,’ Joan continues. ‘You were always supported. The problem is obviously with you, it wouldn’t have been from home life or… you had everything. You was happy.
‘I don’t even know why you did do it. I just thought at the time were you copying someone off the TV.’
Shaking her head, Gemma replies: ‘No but mum, that really is a silly thing to say. I love you, but it’s pathetic.’
Joan then starts laughing with Gemma forced to remind her of the seriousness of their conversation.
‘My way of dealing with it is keep busy, carry on, everything’s okay,’ she says.
‘Sometimes, you can make a big thing out of something but there’s no need to. You’ve never been depressed, Gemma.’
‘Well self-harming people hide it,’ Gemma explains, before once again reminding her mother that it’s ‘not a funny situation’.
‘It’s hard for you to deal with I know,’ she adds. ‘You can laugh because it’s probably your way of coping with it, and it’s fine. I get it, I get it, I understand.’
According to figures from the NHS, one in 15 people in the UK have self-harmed at some point in their lives, with one in six 16 to 24-year-olds self-harming.
For support on dealing with self-harm see mind.org.uk/selfharm or call Mind’s confidential Infoline on 0300 123 3393.
Gemma Collins: Self-Harm and Me airs tonight at 9pm on Channel 4.
Need support? Contact the Samaritans
For emotional support you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.
Credit: Original article published here.You can read this post on My Celebrity Life.