From victim to survivor to advocate

Gemma Collins breaks down in tears over her close friend's suicide after bravely opening up about her own history of self-harm.The 41-year-old reality star has struggled with hurting herself for two decades and has opened up about her past for the first time in a candid Channel 4 documentary which aired on Wednesday (February 16) evening.Over the course of the film, Gemma chatted with her therapist, Mandy Saligari, mum Joan, best friend Vicky and her fiancé Rami.She also met with people who have similar experiences of self-harm and learns about some of the support available.During her visit to Harmless, a centre for self-harm prevention in Nottingham, Gemma got emotional about her close friend's tragic death.The former Celebrity Big Brother star asked co-founder and CEO of the charity Harmless, Caroline Harrow: "Why is it more girls that self-harm then boys?"Caroline replied: "Yeah more girls show up then boys but more men kill themselves."A visibly emotional Gemma added: "A very close family friend of mine, he was like a little brother to me, he committed suicide," before breaking down into tears.Rhys Alan Smith, the ex boyfriend of TOWIE's Harry Derbidge, died in 2021 after taking his own life.He was close friends with several cast members in particular Gemma and her ex James Argent.Gemma also revealed in the documentary that she struggled with her meteoric rise to fame.She was a car saleswoman when she first appeared on The Only Way Is Essex back in 2011.It didn't take long before Gemma became one of the show's most iconic stars.Speaking about the impact of that for the first time, Gemma told fiancé Rami Hawash what triggered her to self-harm.She explained: "It was never about you, it was never about any of that."It