01 February 2023 , 13:24
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Gemma Collins has revealed she was forced to call the police after an online troll threatened to break her jaw.
The former TOWIE star, 42, admits she is less bothered by trolls as she gets older - but one message left her reeling.
"I don't give a s**t what people think of me. That comes with age, when I was a bit younger I was probably a bit bothered and people used to troll me," she said on the latest episode of The Gemma Collins Podcast.
"I was shocked. I was deleting messages on my phone because I thought, 'new year, new messages.' Someone had messaged me saying, 'You are one ugly, fat b***h. If I see you in the street I'm going to break your jaw.'
Gemma Collins was forced to call the police after the nasty threats (Gemma Collins/Instagram)"I did contact the police, because no one should be messaging that and clearly that person is not in a sane mind if he's messaging that to me. Who else is he messaging it to?”
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She also criticised the current system for dealing with online trolls and called for anyone who "abuses" the platform to be banned from using it.
"One problem I have got is you report all this to Instagram and they do nothing about it,” she said. "Anyone who abuses Instagram or sends a bad, hateful, insightful message to someone should be banned for life.
“They should not be allowed to use the platform. I would love to see that happen in 2023."
Gemma said the troll threatened to break her jaw (ITV)Last year Gemma explained on a Channel 4 documentary that she has a softer side behind her GC persona and even struggled with self-harm in the past.
"Everyone sees me as this strong character. I'm actually a very soft, sensitive person, very few people get to see that side of me," she said.
It is, however, a side that Gemma has bravely let fans see, sharing harrowing details of her darkest chapter in the hope that it could help someone else.
Gemma with partner Rami (mirror.co.uk)
She's struggled with self-harm for 20 years (Getty Images for Thirty8 London)For 20 years she struggled with self-harm, revealing in her documentary, Gemma Collins: Self-Harm and Me that she used it as a 'coping mechanism' to deal with the pressures of her new-found fame.
In deeply moving scenes, the former Dancing on Ice contestant told how she first started self-harming at school and kept it a secret from those around her for two decades.
Explaining that she wanted to do the show to get some answers, Gemma said: "I don't know why I self-harmed, I don't know where it came from. I don't understand it. This is why I'm making this documentary, I want to finally put it to bed."