Gareth Gates reveals heartbreaking moment he was cruelly bullied on holiday and his girlfriend was forced... ngocc

GARETH Gates has spoken about the moment his furious girlfriend stood up to a group of adult bullies who were mocking his stammer.

West End star Allana Taylor was so angry that she confronted the cruel women who had been making fun of him.

The couple were onboard a cruise ship at the time and had found themselves in the cabin next to the nasty group.

Gareth said Allana snapped after three days of hearing the female bullies mimicking him from their adjoining balcony.

The singer, who found fame on the 2001 series of Popstars, has now described his heroic girlfriend as his "knight in shining armour".

Gareth, 40, spoke about the heartbreaking incident during an appearance on ITV1's Loose Women.

He told panelists Christine Lampard, Mariella Frostrup, Myleene Klass and Brenda Edwards that he and Allana been working on the cruise ship together as singers when it happened.

Gareth said: "Unfortunately, on the ship, we had a bit of an incident.

"There were some women next door to our cabin and they learned that I was in that cabin. And every time I went out on the balcony, they started to mock my speech by going, G-g-g-Gareth Gates, or to sing the song Ch-ch-ch-Changes.

"It was... I'm sort of very, very used to that. I am, I've had it my whole life. But my other half, after two or three days of this, it just got too much, and so she went round.

"She knocked on the door and said, 'Please will you stop doing this?'"

Gareth added: "You know, it was like grown women doing it.

"We all have banter amongst our friends, you know. I take the mick out myself, you know my speech, but in a closed group.

"I think knowing that the person you're mocking is actually able to hear it, you know, takes a different person.

"Thankfully, she was my knight in shining armour, went round and they stopped."

Gareth, who has had a stammer since childhood, was just 17 when he finished in second place to Will Young on Popstars.

Although he had struggled with speaking to the judges, he was able to sing perfectly and without hesitation.

But sadly behind his angelic voice and good looks, Gareth had spent years being bullied for his speech impediment.

The dad-of-one, however, says his negative experiences through life have made him "extremely resilient".

He even credits the bullying for his 2024 win on Channel 4's Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.

"I think it was what happened to me as a child," Gareth told the Loose Women ladies. "I was badly bullied, often beaten because of my speech.

"But in a weird way, I'm kind of thankful for that because it has made me extremely resilient. I can take a lot more now because of that.

"I certainly wouldn't have won SAS without that."

Gareth admitted that live interviews such as his one of Monday's Loose Women are his "worst nightmare", but he said: "I've found over the years, you have to face the fear head-on.

"If you cower away, it just gets worse and the fear grows.

"One of my proudest things that I've achieved is that I've heightened the awareness of stammering and have shown to people that, even though you have these afflictions holding you back, that you can be whatever you want to be.

"If you persevere and have that resilience, you can be whatever you want to be."

Gareth has written a musical based on his experience of growing up with a stammer called Speechless, which he hopes will be in London's West End by next year.