Health & Fitness TOWIE's Gemma Collins opens up about suffering a miscarriage in lockdown

Gemma Collins has candidly addressed her third miscarriage in an open letter.

© Ricky Vigil M - Getty Images The Only Way is Essex's Gemma Collins has revealed she suffered a third miscarriage earlier this year during lockdown.

Inspired by Meghan Markle's choice to publicly reveal her story of child loss, the TOWIE star wrote of how "sharp cramps" turned into something more sinister than she could have ever imagined.

"I've not talked about this before, but it was my third," she began in the piece published by The Sun. "I've been trying to have a baby for nearly a decade now, only to have my hopes dashed time and again by first one miscarriage, then another.

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Gemma Collins has opened up about suffering a ‘traumatising’ miscarriage at four months. In 2012, the TV star miscarried after not knowing she was pregnant ‘But I actually gave birth to a child, sadly, and basically the child was four months old, basically I miscarried but obviously the baby was formed

Black Lives Matter protesters kneel outside Downing St. Meet the mums taking down dating app creeps.

© Tim P. Whitby - Getty Images Gemma Collins

"I didn't know I was pregnant and dismissed them as the symptoms of a heavy period," Gemma said of the pangs, before explaining how things played out from there.

"I was on my own at the time, like many of us in lockdown, and for days I just tried to push on until one day I broke down on the phone to my sister and she forced me to ring a doctor. The doctor sent me to hospital where they told me that I'd had a miscarriage.

"In a single instant, I learned that I'd been carrying a baby and lost it, meaning that once again I found my longstanding dreams of motherhood shattered into pieces."

© David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock - Rex Gemma Collins, James 'Arg' Argent

Related: TOWIE's James Argent "hated" Gemma Collins as she gave him "tough love" amid addiction battle

Why you need to know about the painful, silent phenomena of missed miscarriage

Sometimes, the loss of a baby can occur without immediate symptomsThe profoundly emotional, distressing phenomena of missed miscarriage – in which the person expecting experiences no symptoms, only to find out, probably at a hospital scan, that their baby has been lost – is one which relatively few people are aware of.

Head over heels: Gemma Collins , 36, was left red-faced after she suffered a major fail at the Taking a tumble: Gemma didn't realise that the stage beside her had dropped down to bring up ITV2 stars Jamie Share or comment on this article: TOWIE ' s Gemma Collins suffers epic stage tumble. e-mail.

Gemma Collins took to Instagram Stories on Friday to reveal she was stockpiling groceries amid the 'I'm ready for the lockdown !' Gemma Collins wears plastic gloves to buy SEVEN packs of toilet roll Proving the shops ARE still stocking the shelves, she put on some plastic gloves to hit up her local

After confirming that the baby's father was her ex-partner James Argent, the former Dancing on Ice contestant declared that she's "trying to trust in fate".

She added: "I know I can give a baby a brilliant life – a life a world away from the world of 'GC', the larger-than-life character that most of the public know, and when my time to be a mother comes, I will do everything I can to protect the privacy of that cherished prize I have yearned for for so long."

If you have experienced a miscarriage and need support, please contact The Miscarriage Association (via email at info@miscarriageassociation.org.uk or telephone on 01924 200799, Mon-Fri, 9am-4pm) or Tommy's.

Sands supports anyone affected by the death of a baby. You can contact the Sands National Helpline on 0808 164 3332, or email helpline@sands.org.uk.

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