'a LIVING NIGHTMARE'
Big Brother star breaks down in tears as she slams reality show for ‘ruining her life’ after dropping to just six stone
BIG Brother contestant Laura Carter has burst into tears and blasted the reality show for "ruining her life".
Laura, 37, has told fans that her weight dropped to just six stone after appearing in the 2016 series of BB and called it 'the darkest, loneliest time'.
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The actress, who flashed her boobs and had sex with Marco Pierre White Jnr while in the house, even claims she was left with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD].
In a filmed in her kitchen, Laura blames series 17's 'Paranoia' theme for her outrageous behaviour on screen - which then led to her downfall.
She says: "We didn't know that was the theme. It was a real mind f***. I had no idea and neither did anyone else. It was like being in a living nightmare."
One task saw the housemates dress up as scarecrows who were to be attacked by human 'crows' throwing custard and mud.
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However, Laura was the only housemate to be repeatedly attacked. This caused her to believe the public "hated" her and were voting for it.
"It was really degrading, horrible things and it was always me," she explained. "I went into the toilet after and was wiping everything off me and I thought, 'The public hate me, they want to humiliate me'. And I did feel humiliated.
"It's like this switch went off inside of me and it was like self-destruct mode. I'd been pushed into this corner, I felt like there was no hope for me. I was made to feel everyone hated me. That's when my behaviour with Marco ensued."
Laura continued: "After having therapy and talking about what I did, I've come to realise it was almost like a mask I'd put up to protect myself and my feelings. I lost all self worth. I forgot that my family were watching, my friends were watching."
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Prior to her Big Brother stint, Laura was working in London's West End as an actress and as a nightclub hostess.
She admits her agent warned her against signing up to a reality show but still went ahead, saying BB producers carried out "months of psychiatric testing" beforehand.
But after being the eighth housemate to be evicted, Laura struggled to come to terms with her "new life" outside of the show.
Her controversial behaviour onscreen saw her sacked from her previous jobs and found herself living alone after her housemate moved out.
"I just remember lying on the kitchen floor with my head in my hands not knowing what to do with myself," Laura said.
"I'd sit in silence - I had nothing left to give. It was the darkest, loneliest time of my life.
"I realised my life was not going to go back to how it was. Even clubs I worked in didn't want me back.
"My life changed but it literally ruined my life. It ruined it."
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Laura eventually decided to pack her bags and move from London and back home to her family in Leeds.
She also welcomed her first child, a son called Jaxon, in 2018 with her partner Tony. The couple are still together.
But the backlash from her Big Brother stint was still not fully behind her.
Laura admits: "When Jax was about 18 months old, I started suffering from insomnia. I started having nightmares - when I could actually fall asleep. I was having nightmares of being watched.
"I was wracked with anxiety, I had anger issues. Even the tiniest thing someone would say to me, I'd blow up. It's like I was a pressure cooker about to blow at any point.
"I was also horrendously thin, I didn't realise that I was so thin until my mum said, 'I'm really worried about you now'."
Laura's weight had plummeted to 6.7st.
She said: "It was a real physical affect of what had happened to me mentally.
"I'd tried to block it all out, I'd tried to get on with my life but was seeing how mentally damaged I was."
Thankfully, Laura has had therapy to help deal with her mental demons. She also now weighs more than 9st after working with a personal trainer to get healthy again.
But blasting Big Brother, she admits: "I feel like I was really taken advantage of.
"As much as the producers were doing their job, all this process was to see how I would react to things.
"The minute the show finished, that was it. It was like, 'See ya'. And it was all left for me to deal with."
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Recalling what her therapist concluded, Laura added: "She said, 'You've been suffering with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, you have been through so much and it's come out in a physical way. You are mentally damaged from what has happened'.
"It's taken me up until this point to be okay and sit here and share my story."
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