NIKKI Grahame's terrified mum Sue has admitted she has never seen her daughter looking so unwell as she continues battle anorexia.
Nikki, 38, this week checked into a specialist facility after her desperate friends managed to raise enough cash to start paying for life-saving care.
But in a new interview, Sue has told of her fears that Nikki – who has suffered from the eating disorder since childhood – might never get well.
Sue, 66, told The Telegraph: "We've been on this road a long time, 30 years on and off, and I've never seen her this bad.
"I'm frightened that I'll die and she'll have no one to support her. I don't want her to go through any of this alone.
"While there’s breath in my body, and while Nikki is struggling, I don’t know how to do anything else other than help her."
Sue also explained how the first lockdown last year seriously affected Nikki, describing her latest devastating setback as a result of '"terminal loneliness".
Nikki's best friends, Carly and Leon, launched a GoFundMe campaign last month after the former Big Brother star's health drastically deteriorated.
Backed by showbiz faces including Rylan Clark-Neal, the pals managed to raise enough money for Nikki to receive a more "holistic" therapy.
The much-loved reality star is said to have exhausted all treatment on the NHS.
Helplines on eating disorders and body image
For help and support on eating disorders and body image, you can call Beat Eating Disorders.
Their adult helpline is 0808 201 1677. The youth helpline is on 0808 801 0711.
Signs and symptoms of anorexia
- If you're under 18, your weight and height being lower than expected for your age
- If you're an adult, having an unusually low body mass index
- Missing meals, eating very little or avoiding eating any foods you see as fattening
- Believing you are fat when you are a healthy weight or underweight
- Taking medication to reduce your hunger (appetite suppressants)
- Your periods stopping (in women who have not reached menopause) or not starting (in younger women and girls)
- Physical problems, such as feeling dizzy, dry skin and hair loss
Carly and Leon explained: "Over the past years Nikki's family and friends have tried so desperately to get Nikki all the help possible through the NHS but unfortunately the treatments have failed and we have exhausted every avenue possible, and now Nik is unfortunately in a very bad way, this is now our last hope."
Nikki's friends are also planning to walk the bridges in London in May to raise more money.
Nikki developed anorexia as a child and first received medical treatment for the illness when she was just eight.
Four years later, she attempted to take her own life and, at one point, had to be force fed through a nasal tube after she starved herself.
Nikki shot to fame in 2006 in Big Brother and has always spoken openly about her battle with the eating disorder.
In 2009, she documented her struggles in her own book Nikki Grahame: Dying To Be Thin.
- You can donate to Nikki's appeal on her GoFundMe page.
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