Nikki Grahame was just shy of eight years old when her mother Susan noticed the first signs of an eating disorder. It had been a difficult time for the family; her parents were on the brink of divorce, her grandfather had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and their dog of 18 years had recently died. “I noticed Nikki had become quite solemn. She never smiled; she was never happy,” Susan tells Channel 4 in a new documentary Nikki Grahame: Who Is She? “At the age of eight, she had the entire weight of the world on her shoulders.” Shortly after, Grahame began refusing food, and mealtimes became a challenge. She was later diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, a serious mental health condition that she struggled with until her death on 9 April 2021, aged 38.
The documentary, named after one of many quotable lines Grahame delivered while retreating to the Big Brother diary room during the show’s seventh season, sees her friends and family describe her as one of a kind, special and loyal. On television she was a tornado of energy, blaringly honest and funny, all the while quietly struggling with a tormenting condition.
