'I love my body - it's others who don't'

Gemma Collins on stripping naked, body confidence and why she thinks people will no longer recognise her

- EVE MACDONALD

When new catches up with Gemma Collins, she’s making a batch of homemade tomato soup with produce from her very own garden. It might be hard to believe, but the GC also happens to be a chilled-out homebody who keeps a vegetable patch and cares for chickens.

Five chickens to be exact – Dolce, Gabbana, Gucci, Chanel and Fendi. In fact, she even stops the interview to give her gardener a cup of tea and collect some of their eggs.

While she was once a party girl who coveted designer labels and sought out the finer things, the 42-year-old tells us she’s just enjoying a slower paced life and is in a “really good place”.

After laying low over the summer, Gemma is raring to go again and is setting her career goals high. She has plans for a Netflix series and is baring all for ITV’s The Real Full Monty later this year.

Here, the reality TV star chats to us about stripping naked and loving her body, having the unlikeliest of friendships with King Charles and Queen Camilla, and her plans to end the year stronger than ever…

Hi, Gemma! It seems you’ve changed a lot. What’s happening?

I’m in a really good place – life is good at the moment. I had a lovely summer and even took a bit of a break from social media. It was nice to step away, even at home I’m non-stop with feeding the chickens and checking on my veggies, so switching off was like a proper break. It’s also lethal because I’m just going full steam ahead with everything now. I want to end the year strong. 

That sounds exciting. What kind of things do you have planned?