My pal Nikki Grahame was fabulous, naughty and fun right up to the very end, reveals Imogen Thomas

TRAGIC Nikki Grahame was as mischievous as ever in the weeks before her death, close friend Imogen Thomas has revealed.

Fans were devastated by the news that the bubbly Big Brother star Nikki had died, aged 38, on the same day as Prince Philip, after battling anorexia since childhood.

And as the one-year anniversary approaches on Saturday, Imogen — who met Nikki on the seventh series of the reality TV show — has told how her pal would play pranks on fellow patients at the hospital where she was receiving treatment for the eating disorder.

Imogen, 39, recalls: “She was so mischievous, that girl. She was always up to no good.

“I’d go to visit her at the hospital, even when I wasn’t meant to, and stand by the window so we could talk.

“Once, she told me she’d hid the scales under another patient’s bed. I’d say, ‘Babe you’re going to get her into trouble’.

“But she said, ‘I don’t care. I hate her anyway’.”

Former model Imogen recalls how on another occasion Nikki gave two young men a ticking off for mocking her 2006 stint on Big Brother, in which she became known for her Diary Room theatrics and “who is she?” outburst.

She says: “Nik told me she’d just seen these two fit guys when she’d gone for a walk to the kitchen area.

“They were nudging each other and giggling because they knew she’d been on Big Brother.

“She said, ‘But I went back in and gave them a gob full. The poor guys didn’t know where to look’. We were giggling about it.”

Imogen, who features in Channel 4 documentary Nikki Grahame: Who Is She? alongside the star’s mum Sue on Thursday, says her friend was determined to keep up the party lifestyle even when she was on day release from hospital.

‘Proper meltdowns’

The mum-of-two reveals: “She would have a few hours twice a week to leave so we’d go for a few cocktails.

“I wouldn’t let her come out with me unless she ate. She’d take ages to eat but she would.

“She loved to go to the Ivy and her favourite dish was their fish and chips. She’d eat it.”

For Nikki, it was these fun-loving and rebellious moments that made life worth living.

Imogen says: “We would go out for two days straight. She’d still be up, even when she was sick.

“She could drink me under the table — and I’m Welsh.

“But then I’d say, ‘Enough you can’t have any more because she was so thin’. I felt like a giant next to Nik.”

From the moment Nikki entered the Big Brother house dressed in a Playboy bunny costume, it was clear she was a force to be reckoned with.

Her temper tantrums and hysterical rants saw her become a fan favourite.

One of the most meme-worthy moments in TV history came after Nikki was nominated for eviction by new housemate Susie Verrico.

She fumed in the Diary Room: “I’m feeling very venomous and angry. How dare she vote for me, she doesn’t even know me.

“She’s just marched in in her golden gown and just ousted me out, and it’s not fair.”

Nikki then uttered the immortal line: “Who is she? Who is she?”
Imogen recalls: “If she didn’t have a meltdown, there would be something wrong with the day.

“They were never proper meltdowns though as she’d be laughing her head off immediately afterwards.”

She adds: “I really do miss those.”

Nikki had battled anorexia since she was eight years old, but kept the illness a secret from Imogen and the other housemates when she was on Big Brother.

Imogen says: “She just wanted to be her. When she was on the show, she was the healthiest she’d ever been. That show saved her.

“She never had time to think about her illness. She loved being around people. She hated being alone.”

'Achieved so much'

After her eviction, Nikki went on to carve out a successful career as a presenter and landed her own spin-off series Princess Nikki.

She also wrote two books, Dying To Be Thin and Fragile, based on her experiences with anorexia.

Imogen says: “She achieved so much in life.”

After Big Brother, the pair lost touch. Former Miss Wales Imogen, who set up her own swimwear brand and became a lads mag favourite, says: “I was doing my thing and she was doing hers. I was trying to earn as much money as I could. I knew it was never going to last so I had to make as much money as possible.”

A year after the pair left Big Brother, their paths crossed again.

Imogen recalls: “She said, ‘I miss you so much!’

“I said, ‘Nik what happened?’ And she said, ‘Well what happened was that you said this about me, and I said this about you…’

“With all those magazines, it was tit for tat. When you’re new to fame you take things to heart.

“We were soon laughing over a few drinks. From that point we were inseparable.”

As well as nights out in London, the pals enjoyed holidays to New York and Las Vegas.

Imogen says: “Nik loved to party and she was the life and soul. Both being single, we had such a laugh.” Nikki continued to be a mainstay on our screens, coming runner-up in Ultimate Big Brother in 2010 and making a guest appearance on the sixteenth series of Big Brother five years later.

Imogen says: “She always wanted to work in telly but you know what it’s like, as soon as Big Brother finished work dried up. She didn’t really have anything to fall back on.”

Imogen, who is a single mum to daughters Ariana, nine, and six-year-old Siera after splitting from ex Adam Horsley in 2018, swapped modelling for property management.

Meanwhile, Nikki was working as a dinner lady at a school in London and was training as a teaching assistant.

It gave the star much-needed stability and her eating disorder was under control, though Imogen reveals Nikki was not impressed she had to supervise the children in the playground at break time.

Imogen explains: “She was always so cold. She’d say to me, ‘The bastards made me go outside again!’” But the closure of gyms and isolation during national lockdowns in 2020 caused Nikki to relapse.

Imogen says: “She deteriorated so much. She didn’t have any control over it. She was so ill.

“When she tried to walk up the stairs she couldn’t move her legs and had to pick them up with her hands.”

‘Pete wasn’t her friend’

Imogen says she did everything to try to save her friend — even attempting to get Nikki sectioned.

Imogen recalls: “She called me a few weeks before she died saying she wanted to die.

“She didn’t want to be anorexic. She really did want to fight this. But there was a part in her head that just couldn’t do it.”

Imogen called an ambulance but Nikki refused to go to hospital. She explains: “She always said the hospital made her worse. The patients would have a competition to see who can be the thinnest.”

She adds: “I tried to get her sectioned. She hated me for that.”
Imogen and Nikki’s friends helped raise just over £65,000 to fund care at a private facility. But two weeks before her death, Nikki fractured her spine in a fall at a pharmacy and was admitted to hospital. Her weight was the lowest it had ever been since adulthood.

Nikki gained 4kg in two weeks and planned to attend a recovery clinic, but a day after being discharged from hospital she died.

As Nikki’s loved ones and fans grieved her loss, Imogen was shocked that Big Brother winner Pete Bennett, 39, posted a recent picture of himself with the dangerously thin star on social media.

She accused Nikki’s ex-boyfriend of “cruelly betraying” her memory after he also shared her final text message to him.

Pete insisted Nikki had given him permission to post the image. Imogen would like to set the record straight.

She says: “They were never friends, him and Nik. He just rocked up at 1am with his girlfriend and took that picture. He only stayed for an hour.”

Imogen insists she initially contacted Pete privately, politely asking him to take the picture down.

But she says: “He went off on one. I’ve got loads on my phone but I’d never post those photos online. It doesn’t even look like Nik.” She adds:

“He then decided to go on every TV show and talk about her and this picture was popping up everywhere.

“It wasn’t nice for her mum and the rest of her family and friends.”

This month should have been Nikki’s 40th birthday.

The pair had planned to return to Las Vegas to mark the occasion, but Imogen will now spend it alone in Mexico.

She says: “I just wanted to be away.

“Nik loved to travel so I’m going to sit on the beach with an espresso martini, which was her favourite cocktail. I know she will be looking down on me.”

And no doubt giving a nod of approval.

• Nikki Grahame: Who Is She? airs on Channel 4, on Thursday