Yazmin Oukhellou has broken her silence following the tragic car crash in Turkey which saw on-off boyfriend Jake McLean die and left the TOWIE star with serious injuries.
Yazmin has said that she was forced to break her trapped arm after the crash which occured in the early hours Sunday July 3.
She has also denied speculation that she and Jake had been arguing at the time of the crash - explaining how she was asleep prior to the car veering off a cliff.
Yazmin has said she will "need therapy for a while" to process the traumatic event, and paid tribute to Jake whom she recalls she loved "so hard".
The reality TV star, 28, arrived back in the UK earlier this week after being discharged from hospital after undergoing surgery due to her arm being seriously injured.
Doctors reportedly told Yazmin she was 'lucky' to have survived the horrific crash which saw Jake pronounced dead at the scene.
Jake, 33, tragically died when their Mercedes car overturned after plunging 30ft into a ditch in the holiday resort of Bodrum at 4.30am in the morning.
"It was lay there and bleed to death, or snap my own arm to try to save us," Yazmin has recalled in her first interview since the horrifying ordeal.
Speaking with The Sun, the star explains how she had fallen asleep in the car after partying with pals earlier in the evening - waking to discover the Mercedes was plunging 70ft from a mountain road in Turkey.
She remembers "tumbling for what seemed like forever" and recalling her arm being covered in blood.
Yazmin heartbreakingly goes on to say how she thought Jake was "just unconscious" when she discover they had crashed.
"I didn’t want to admit it to myself that he could be dead," she tells the publication.
"So I thought, ‘Right, I can either lay still and bleed to death, or snap my own arm to try to save us — I had no choice."
She recalls snapping her arm through "pure adrenaline and panic" and managing to climb out of the car.
Yazmin then spotted a man walking his dog who assisted her with her injuries as they returned to the car to try save Jake.
"I climbed back down and tried to check his pulse but I couldn’t feel anything and then the ambulance came," she remembers.
The reality TV star and Jake - who previously dated Lauren Goodger - are believed to have first become a couple in May last year, with Yazmin confirming their relationship on Instagram the following December before splitting shortly after.
Speaking her new interview, Yazmin explains how the couple were "off" at the time of her visit to Turkey, but the pair had "wanted to reconcile."
She says "things were perfect" during the trip and prior to the crash, they had been having the most amazing evening.
Yazmin admits she had been a bit "panicky" driving high in the mountains, but drifted off to sleep - something doctors have claimed could have saved her life.
Medics have told the TOWIE star that if she hadn't have been asleep, her body may not have been so relaxed and therefore not survived the crash.
Speaking about her current wellbeing, Yazmin says it will be a while before she is able to return to work and is "very up and down" with grief.
Speaking of Jake, she said: "Jake is the only person I have ever felt a love like that for and I think for me it’s going to be very, very difficult to get over this.
"This will stay with me for life. But for me, I loved him so hard and that’s why I travelled across the world to be with him."
Prior to his romance with Yazmin, Jake became a public figure when he dated fellow reality TV star Lauren for four years until 2016.
Lauren first met Jake in 2012, with the two publicly dating on and off for several years. They were expecting a child together in 2013 but Lauren, unfortunately, suffered a miscarriage.
It has since been reported that the reality star and Jake briefly rekindled their romance but split for good in 2020 before she got with her current partner Charles Drury.
Lauren - who is currently grieving the heartbreaking death of her baby daughter - took to Twitter at the time of Jake's death to say that she had 'no words' to describe the shock she was in after learning her ex had passed away.
"RIP Jake. I have no words right now. My thoughts are with your family and friends," she penned.
*If you are struggling with mental health, you can speak to a trained advisor from Mind mental health charity on 0300 123 3393 or email info@mind.org.uk
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