If there’s one thing to take from Gemma Collins’ documentary series, it’s that Gemma Collins is a completely different entity to “The GC”. The latter is the public-facing version of the Essex reality star, who came up from the world of The Only Way Is Essex over a decade ago to become a household name and the star of countless reaction memes. But it is Collins who is the subject of this four-part project: sensitive, softly spoken and fiercely protective of her loved ones. Although it’s refreshing to be introduced to someone unfamiliar, it’s Collins’s inability to fully address her past that prevents the film from reaching its potential.
In Gemma Collins: Self-Harm and Me, she begins a journey of acknowledging and understanding her 20-year habit of cutting her wrists in times of overwhelming stress. Though she hasn’t self-harmed with cutting since her early thirties (she’s now 41), Collins wants to ensure the tendencies don’t return as she prepares to start a family with fiancé Rami Hawash. The very first scene offers a shocking description of her first memory of hurting herself in this way, and it’s genuinely alarming. Yet she wants everyone to know that it’s not a celebrity sob story: “Do not get the violins out for me,” she caveats.
