Gemma Collins: 'I've always suffered with bladder leaks!'
Gemma Collins has opened up about her struggle with incontinence admitting the condition has got worse since she reached her 40s.
Gemma Collins has opened up about living with incontinence admitting she “always suffered with bladder leaks”.
The former 'TOWIE' star has spent years dealing with the condition and has even detailed a time she was jumping on a trampoline and the “floodgates just opened”, leaving her mortified.
The 42-year-old television personality told New! magazine: “I’ve always suffered with bladder leaks, probably from my mid-20s, actually.
“But now I’m in my 40s, it has definitely gotten worse.
“There was one moment that really made me think, ‘Enough is enough!’ I was trampolining with my nephew, Hayden, and absolutely loving life and having fun with him, when all of a sudden I jumped in the air and the floodgates just opened.
“I was thinking, ‘Oh my God, what is going on here?’ I kept jumping and the floods kept coming - it was just not OK. Out of embarrassment, I started laughing and said to Hayden that we had to leave.”
Gemma admits her incontinence issue affects her life with her fiance, 49-year-old Rami Hawash.
She said: “I can laugh about it now, but [Hayden] said to me, ‘You’re old enough to know when to go to the bathroom.' I said to him, ‘Babe, this is different.’ "Normally, we would go for a pizza or go to the cinema afterwards - we’ve got our routine of having fun - but we had to stop what we were doing and go straight home.
“I was soaked right through and the worst [things] just kept going through my head. I was thinking, ‘Oh gosh, am I going to need an operation? Am I dying?’ I was so worried someone would be watching me, too, and that I wouldn’t be able to do fun things with Hayden ever again.”
The ex ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ contestant has found comfort in discovering how many other women suffer from incontinence and it is her mission to break down the “taboo” of the topic of bladder problems.
Gemma said: “It is unbelievable to find out how many women suffer with this, and yet there’s still a taboo surrounding it. It is so sad. Since I’ve openly said, ‘I get bladder leaks’, lots of people have thanked me for being open about it.
“Women have been silent for so long or felt too embarrassed to say anything about it. I’ve even heard of some cancelling of holidays or plans with friends because they are scared of a leak.
“We should all be out there living our best lives.”
