FERNE MCCANN reveals being on TOWIE set off of her anxiety after she struggled to trust anyone.
Although Ferne initially wanted to be famous through signing up to the reality TV show, she soon found it was “soul-destroying”.
Speaking to heat magazine, Ferne pledged her support to their “Where’s Your Head At?” campaign, for mental and physical health to be given equal treatment at work.
“TOWIE was amazing and it provided so many opportunities, but that was the start of my anxiety… you have to grow a very thick skin, there’s loads of highs and lows because some of the stick that you get can be soul destroying,” she says.
“Trust is a really big thing and I went through a situation where, for a long time, I felt like I couldn’t trust anyone and that affects how you live your life.
“When I was pregnant [with Sunday], my pregnancy got leaked to the press… I think that has been really hard to deal with.”
Ferne, 28, was caught up in a public man-hunt when she was three months pregnant with Sunday, now 18 months, as Sunday’s dad, Arthur Collins, went on the run after throwing acid over revellers in an east London nightclub. He was later jailed.
She also tells heat that she has been seeing a therapist for eight months, once a week, “and it’s honestly been the best thing I have ever done.”
She says she would now urge her own daughter not to go down the same reality TV route as she went down.
“If Sunday was thinking about doing a reality show like Love Island or TOWIE – I’d like to think that I would encourage and support whatever she’d want to do, but I probably would say no to that. I’d be like, ‘Go to university, darling.’
“My time on TOWIE wasn’t real. That can be even more damaging because at the time you think it is and you get so caught up in it.
“I always felt very misunderstood on that show cause I was often getting the hate from people. It’s such a double edged sword.
“You think you want the publicity – getting more air time’s gonna get you more opportunity, it’s gonna keep you in the limelight but actually, what it does to you mentally can be worrying.”
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Ferne McCann blames Towie for her paranoia after she became obsessed with friends ‘scheming behind her back’ and ‘couldn’t trust anyone’
