Gemma Collins has said that “one of my lot could’ve actually been Jack The Ripper” after filming an episode of Who Do You Think You Are?
The 43-year-old said that while filming the BBC show she found out that members of her family lived on London’s Dorset Street, where two of the serial killer’s victims, Mary Kelly and Annie Chapman, lived.
The street had a reputation as one of the capital’s most lawless during the time of Jack The Ripper, with police only thought to have patrolled the area in groups.
Collins said: “We lived on the same street as Jack The Ripper’s victims.
“So, one of my lot could have actually been Jack The Ripper.
“Do you know what I mean? When you watch it, we’re on the same street in London, Dorset Street, where Jack the Ripper was doing all his killings.
“That was a bit of, you know, (it was) absolutely shocking.”
During the show, the Only Way Is Essex star will also explore the history of her mother, Joan, who was adopted, and finds out why her grandmother parted with her.
She said: “I think it was like a Pandora’s Box, it needed to be opened, and now it’s opened it has definitely been the biggest gift I could have ever given my mom. So, thank you to the BBC for that.
“But she’s just got so many things that she didn’t know that was never answered for her.
“So it has just been wonderful that she’s now had access to that information.”
Collins added: “I think it was very sad, you can see from the film that her mum maybe wasn’t in the best space to keep her, and it was the right decision.
“But sadly my mum had a lucky escape, thank god she didn’t stay with her mum, although she’s only found that out now and spent her whole life wondering why it was the right reason.
“It was for the very best that she was taken from her mum, for sure, because her mum went on to have abusive partners, very abusive partners, so that was not good at all.
“And god forbid that would have happened to mum.”
Collins said her mother was “very open” but also “apprehensive” about finding out why she was taken away from her mother.
She said: “She found it very emotional and it was quite tiring for me, because I had to absorb so much information.
“As wonderful as it was, it’s almost like I wish my mum would have known sooner.”
The show also reveals that there was pressure on Collins’ grandmother not to have the baby due to “mental health”.
Speaking about what she found out about her grandmother, Collins added: “It (was) a bit sketchy mental health back in the day, because she was obviously a character.
“She was a bit of a free spirit, she didn’t like school. She was a bit of a tearaway the girl, so it was just best.”
Collins’ episode of Who Do You Think You Are? will air on BBC One at 9pm on Thursday, September 26.
