It’s a plot line worthy of The Only Way is Essex. The showbiz world – or at least its perma-tanned fringes – has been rocked by a
vicious feud between two of the ITV show’s biggest stars.
And with secret social media accounts, leaked voice notes and warring camps, it has all the hallmarks of the summer’s Wagatha Christie battle between Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy.
Like Vardy, Ferne McCann has been cast as the villain after being accused of sending abusive voice notes about ex-best pal Sam Faiers.
Published via an anonymous Instagram account – @lucymay195 – the leaked audio features what appears to sound like Ferne telling a friend: “Sam Faiers is a fat c***. Her thighs are so big and I looked really skinny today.”
It was said to have been sent just days after Sam, 31, gave birth in May.
In another voice note, a woman believed to be Ferne, 32, is heard saying: “She is just a narcissistic bitch. It’s just so s**t on people that have worked hard, because she’s got a big following. It’s just ridiculous, it’s out of order.”
The Instagram account has notched up more than 23,000 followers since appearing last week.
The person behind it suggests that they have another 36 notes to leak.
Neither Ferne, who fronts ITV show Ferne McCann: First Time Mum, nor Sam, who appears on spin-off The Mummy Diaries, has spoken about the messages, although the latter has blocked her former friend on social media.
Now pressure is mounting on Ferne to address the leaks.
Friends of Sam yesterday accused her rival of “hypocrisy” for allegedly sending the notes after previously promoting International Women’s Day.
Pairing with Stagecoach for the 2018 event by helping female bus drivers keep fit, Ferne said: “It’s great to see the women all pulling together and motivating each other.”
A source said yesterday: “It smacks of hypocrisy that she aligns herself with IWD but then does this behind women’s backs.
“There is no female solidarity at all.”
While Sam and Ferne have remained silent, Sam’s mum Suzie wrote on Instagram: “This has come as a complete shock to myself and my family. Ferne has always been a very close family friend to all of us for over the past 20 years. It appears this voice note was sent just weeks after Samantha gave birth back in May.
“Nobody should ever speak about their friends like this, ever!”
In the last 24 hours a third voice note believed to be five years old was released.
In it, a woman who appears to be Ferne says it was “weird” that Sam’s sister Billie and her husband Greg named their second child Arthur.
Ferne’s ex-partner, who she shares daughter Sunday with, is called Arthur Collins.
He was jailed for 20 years for carrying out an acid attack in 2017.
The voice note says: “It feels so weird saying ‘Arthur’... it’s like me having a little boy and calling him Greg. Anyway, whatever.”
Yesterday there were reports Ferne was in talks with ITV over potential fall-out from the leaks.
One pal of hers said: “For Ferne to have to go through this, with leak after leak after leak and with no end in sight, is really unfair. Who hasn’t bitched about their friends once in a while?
“You have to worry how she is coping, and the motives of the anonymous person who is going to all this trouble to embarrass her so much.”
Coleen and Rebekah, eat your hearts out...
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