'I would have died': Former Emmerdale actress Gemma Oaten opens up about traumatic battle with anorexia and reveals dad 'saved her life'
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Brave Gemma Oaten reduced a star-studded audience to tears as she opened up about her traumatic battle with anorexia.
The actress took to the stage at eating disorder charity SEED's ball at the Hippodrome Casino, in London, on, Tuesday night.
Celebs including Strictly winner Joe McFadden , Lee Mead and former Britain's Got Talent winner Richard Jones watched on as Gemma spoke about how her dad, Dennis, who was also in the audience, saved her life.
She told the crowd: “It wasn't for my dad, I would be dead. He saved my life. I owe him so much.”
The former Emmerdale actress spent 11 months in an adolescent psychiatric unit as doctors struggled to deal with her anorexia as her weight plummeted to just four-and-half-stone.
(Image: WENN.com)
Her dad made the difficult decision to take her out of the treatment centre believing being that environment wasn't helping her.
Gemma said: “He was right. I just wanted it all to end. Had my dad not taken me home from the psychiatric unit, I would have died.”
Speaking previously about the horrors of the unit, Gemma, said it was “horrendous”.
She says: “The memories of my time in hospital were very bleak and full of despair. I found myself in quite scary situations. I had things thrown at my head, I’d have people discussing in detail how they were abused, people cutting themselves in front of me. It was horrendous.
(Image: WENN.com)
(Image: WENN.com)
“I wasn’t showing signs of psychosis, I was just a young girl suffering from an illness and, yes, it was a mental health illness but it is very different to somebody who is schizophrenic or who cuts herself.
“It all went wrong because it focused on getting the calories down me and not dealing with the reason I was struggling with an eating disorder.
(Image: WENN.com)
“In the end my parents made the decision to take me out of there when they found out what was going on.”
It was the beginning of a long road for Gemma who is now back to full health.
She inspired the founding of eating disorder charity SEED, of which she is now a patron.
Earlier in the evening BGT winner Richard wowed the crowd with a series of tricks.