Ferne McCann has been shown support after she was seen breaking down into tears as she reacted to the 'hurtful' voice notes which were leaked at the end of last year. Ferne McCann: First Time Mum returned to ITVBe on Wednesday night (March 15) and they were quick to address the scandal that hit the headlines back in November.
An anonymous Instagram account posted a series of voice messages from a woman they claimed was Ferne. The audio messages reportedly featured the 32-year-old talking about the victims of her ex Arthur Collins, who was given a 20-year jail sentence in December 2017 for carrying out an acid attack in a packed nightclub. Sixteen people suffered chemical burn injuries and three people were temporarily blinded in the attack.
Also in November, Ferne apologised to acid attack victim Sophie Hall after claiming voice messages leaked online were "manipulated and edited". The reality TV star said she felt she had “no choice” but to address the audio messages in which she allegedly called Ms Hall ugly and stupid.
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Meanwhile, another voice note saw Ferne accused of body-shaming Sam Faiers. Speaking in the first episode of series 10 of her reality show, the emotional mum-of-one, who is currently pregannt with her second child admitted: "'I'm so ashamed and embarrassed and I know the words are very hurtful. It was from a time when I was really hurting, and in a very vulnerable and bad place,' she explained while sat reflecting in her car.
"They were from about five years ago when me and Sam had a fall out. It's very hard for me to talk about this because I don't want to bring up the past. Would I say those things now? Absolutely not, but those I absolutely apologised for. But now because of this hate campaign and this person that has held onto them for five years, to weaponise them against me, I've lost my... I've lost some of my best friends."
She went on to speak about her relationship with Billie Shepherd, Sam's sister, with whom she had been friends for more than 20 years. "I've lost my whole relationship with Billie, and that really hurts. She has been my best friend for so many years, and that plays into where I don't feel whole, I feel really lost. Friendships are so important. And you say things where if you're angry, or if you're hurt, you say things."
She was also seen speaking to James 'Arg' Argent on her show, with whom they all starred on The Only Way is Essex together, and she said: "I think the place that I was at, Sam had it all. She had a partner she had a baby and I didn't. Yeah, I'm not condoning it. I did say something really nasty about her and it has affected my friendships. At the moment, my friendship with Billie... You know how much I..."
As she started to cry, she added: "It's really hard." When Arg asked if she can fix the situation and if she's contacted Billie, she answered: "Yes and no, I understand the position she's in... I've tried to message her lots but I get it. I'm very much mourning the loss of a 22-year friendship. It's hard. I massively regret it but I'm unable to do a lot apart from put my trust in the police, try and patch things back together..."
Ferne also alleged in the episode that the voice notes had been edited 'to remove their context' and said: "When I heard the voice notes, I immediately remembered who I'd sent them to but I believe they've since been edited to remove their context. Why? Because I think that someone is trying to destroy me and to inflict as much damage into my life as possible. There's only one person that I know would want to inflict this amount of pain and damage onto my life. They destroyed me."
Before the episode aired, Ferne posted a clip which featured what happened on the last (ninth) series of First Time Mum and was quickly offered support. @just_hayley_jane said: "Watching it now! We all make mistakes. Own them. Move on. You’ve got this Ferne!! Supported you then, supporting you now. #bekind."
@samyd24892 commented: "Heartbreaking to see how it’s effected you so much. We all make mistakes and say things we don’t mean, that doesn’t define you keep strong." @debbiemoody827 wrote: "We’ve all made mistakes, said stuff that makes us cringe now and done stuff we aren’t proud of. You’ve been punished for yours, more than most. Enough now, time for forgiveness and to get back on with your life."
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