Essex Queen on living the dream - and her teenage nightmare
Who doesn’t love a good story that captivates you right from the start? Or have you ever thought about putting some of our favourite telly characters on the couch? Everything I Know About Me
A household name since she burst onto our screens in TOWIE in 2011, Essex queen Gemma Collins, aka ‘The GC’ is back for a second series of her popular podcast, where she talks fame, her well-publicised battle about her weight and the pressure of living in the spotlight.
She may be living the dream, enjoying the ultimate celeb lifestyle, but it was a rocky road before fame came calling.
Here, Collins talks candidly about her past, from the torment of her teenage years, coping with bullying at her allgirls school, and the pressure of trying to fit in – resulting in her taking slimming pills at 13.
Collins also opens up about her ambitious mum (the aptly named Joan Collins), who was behind her every step of the way and played a pivotal role in helping her achieve her dream of stardom.
Honest and heartfelt, this podcast reveals the real Gemma Collins behind the showbiz mask and her fans will love it. Shrink The Box
There’s a lot of focus on personal growth and selfawareness these days, but let’s be honest – TV would be very boring without a good dose of human messiness in the mix.
In Shrink The Box, actor and comedian Ben Bailey Smith and psychotherapist Nemone Metaxas put some of our favourite telly characters on the couch, unpicking the dynamics and driving forces behind the drama and chaos that makes them so entertaining on screen, and riffing on themes that might crop up in an imaginary therapy session.
Season two kicks off with pedantic radio psychiatrist Frasier Crane from the longrunning US sitcom Frasier getting the shrink treatment. And as fans of the series will know, there’s plenty there to explore, from the eversimmering sibling rivalry with his brother Niles (they’re both psychotherapists/analysts – Frasier Freudian and Niles Jungian) and his tricky chalkand-cheese relationship with his father, to his topsy-turvy romantic life.
It’s funny stuff, and pop psychology fans might learn a thing or two.