Fatima Whitbread burst into tears when telling her I’m A Celebrity… South Africa campmates about her traumatic background.
The Olympic javelin thrower is one of the prominent faces who has returned to the reality show after originally starring on it in 2011.
at a preview of tonight’s programme, she can be seen crying as she recalls her childhood at a children’s home.
‘In the children’s home when we were kids, we always had an assigned job and we were always in that routine,’ she said when chatting to Helen Flanagan and Carol Vorderman.
‘I had two people in my life, Corrie and Auntie Ray. Auntie Ray was an East End girl. I’d be really sad when she went off duty. One day I decided to pick all the daffodils and knock on her door and ask her, “Will you be my mum?”
‘And she said, “Fats, I’ve got to be mum to all you kids, so I can’t always be here”.’
Beginning to cry, Fatima then explained that she ‘taught me a lot about looking after the other kids and how you give, and you receive.
‘You’ve got to have a star in every child’s life.’
Later in the episode she shared there had been ‘a lot of history I had forgotten about in my life’.
‘When I spoke about it, it brought it all back to the surface again and brought a tear to my eye.’
Fatima said on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins last year that she was abandoned as a newborn and ‘left to die’ in a London home.
‘A neighbour heard that baby crying for a couple of days and didn’t see anyone coming or going, so she reported it,’ she said.
‘The police obviously came along, banged the door down, rescued the baby and it got taken into hospital, where I stayed for six months.’
She went on to say that she spent the first 14 years of her life in orphanages.
‘I didn’t have any visits, I didn’t have any birthday cards or anything to indicate that there was anybody out there,’ she recalled.
After being adopted by the family of Margaret Whitbread, a javelin coach, Fatima then took up the sport, which she has called her ‘saviour’.
I’m A Celebrity… South Africa continues tonight at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
