The GC gives us the goss on her wedding, her incredible weight loss and her upcoming TV appearances
She’s had a jaw-dropping transformation over recent months, with celebrity pals calling her ‘stunning’ and ‘beautiful’. And after losing 2st in the space of just three months, TOWIE legend Gemma Collins is looking and feeling incredible when Closer catches up with her. ‘Everything’s amazing, life is good. Everything is fully in line for me finally – I’m so happy,’ she gushes.
The reality star, 44, has dropped three dress sizes – from a size 26 to a 20 – with the help of NHS-approved injections and Yazen, a digital weight-loss tool, which she has been using since January.
‘I’m on the Mounjaro, the skinny jabs. They’re life-changing. I have dropped quite a bit of weight,’ she says, as she unveiled her newly slimmed-down figure at the Chelsea Flower Show. ‘The jabs are helping loads of people and saving people’s lives, so I’m all for it.’
Earlier this month, Gemma revealed how the skinny jabs have transformed her life by suppressing her appetite. ‘It’s so crazy… It’s just so unbelievable the way my appetite has changed literally. Life-changing to the max to go from a size 26 into a 20! I’m absolutely so thankful to Yazen. I never thought that anything would ever work,’ she said.
She recently revealed how she couldn’t even finish her meal on a night out with her nephew Hayden. She ordered mussels as a starter and steak for mains – but left a side of potatoes, and was too full for dessert. She explained, ‘I am satisfied just with that, and I’m seriously satisfied. Before the injection, I would have had a whole crème brulee and next had some of Hayden’s dessert.’
Life couldn’t be better for Gemma right now. Her ‘effortless’ slimdown comes after years of weight woes and health issues. The star – who weighed 23st at her heaviest and was a size 26 – took appetite suppressants as a teenager and felt ‘suicidal’ when she was on diets. She’s now hoping to get down to a size 16 by the summer.
She previously admitted that she thought she might die after being in pain after a gastric bypass surgery. ‘It was scary. I should never have done it. I thought I was going to die. I could not get out of bed. The pain in my stomach… because it was like a foreign body in my belly,’ she said. ‘I couldn’t even drink water. I’ll never forget that feeling of needing to drink and I couldn’t – it was making me violently sick.’
Last month, Gemma sparked speculation that she and fiancé Rami Hawash had secretly married, when she referred to him as her ‘husband’ in a video clip on Instagram. However, she tells Closer that plans for her ‘dream’ wedding have been postponed and remain up in the air, after the businessman, 50, lost his beloved father last May. ‘We’re not getting married yet because Rami lost his dad so we’ve put the wedding back,’ she says. ‘We were due to, and then it’s the first-year anniversary of his death this year.’
Having been engaged three times, most recently in 2024, she insisted that their relationship remains stronger than ever. ‘We’re really happy. Everything’s just aligned. We’re definitely getting married. Definitely, definitely doing it,’ she says.
Gemma and Rami first met in 2011 and got engaged two years later before they broke it off four weeks later. The couple got engaged for the second time in 2021 after rekindling their romance during lockdown and planned to get wed in 2024, but postponed their big day to focus on other priorities in July 2023.
But while we’re all hoping for a lavish bash that only the GC could throw, Gemma – who’s stepmum to Rami’s son, Tristan, six – reveals that she’s considering holding a more low-key ceremony. ‘The more this has gone on, we kind of just want to do a wedding for us. Because with these showbiz weddings, it all becomes about other people,’ she says.
Her rise to fame came after she starred in The Only Way Is Essex, joining the show’s second series in 2011. Gemma has since appeared on Celebrity Big Brother, Celebs Go Dating and Dancing On Ice – as well as a short-lived stint on I’m A Celebrity! when she quit the jungle after three days in 2014. She remains close to her TOWIE roots and counts Jess Wright and Chloe Sims among her closest friends. ‘I wish them all well. I love to see what they’re all doing, but our lives are all different now.’
With the ITV2 show celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, could she make a comeback to the programme where she made her name? ‘They’ve asked me back. My agent’s saying no, but I do want to do it. It’ll be fun,’ she says. And she’s keeping quiet amid rumours that she’s set to return to the Australian jungle for IAC All-Stars this year, although she reveals that she has ‘two massive shows this year’. It’s all go for the GC!
