Rami Hawash, the fiancé of reality star Gemma Collins, has admitted to having a "drink problem," saying he has turned to alcohol as a way of "forgetting everything."
Hawash made the admission at the launch of Collins' new reality series on Friday, saying he no longer wanted to conceal the scale of his struggle.
"I drink, I've got a drink problem and I don't want to hide it," he said. "I wanted people to know it is a problem. I've got a problem and life is not that great."
"I don't know why, but I find the drink, it was like, kind of my friend. You know, I have a few drinks and I'm forgetting everything."
Relationship pushed to 'breaking point'
Hawash's admission came as Collins, 45, revealed that his alcohol dependency had pushed their long-running relationship to breaking point. The television personality said viewers would see the toll it took on her in Gemma Collins: Everything. All At Once, which launches on Sky and NOW on September 15.
"You can see how under pressure I am in this show," she said. "You can see I'm unwell. Life just got progressively worse."
Her mother Joan's fondness for Rami
Collins said her late mother, Joan, had remained fond of Hawash despite witnessing the effect alcohol had on his behaviour. Joan died in July aged 70, after suffering two bouts of pneumonia during the final six months of her life.
"My mum liked Rami," Collins said. "She felt sorry that he'd let the drink control him in the way that it does. Rami's not a bad person. Rami is an awful person in alcohol."
"I really hope Rami goes on to love himself enough to realise there is a lot of help and support out there."
'An amazing person' without the drink
Collins drew a stark distinction between the man she loves and the person she says he becomes after drinking. "Rami without the drink is an amazing person. He's a great, great partner," she said. "Rami with the drink has come to a point I can't cope with it anymore and I can't deal with it, as you can see in the show."
But she insisted the couple's relationship had since moved on from the crisis captured by the cameras. "Where we were then is not where we are now," she said. "Rami's still on his journey. He's started to take the tablet to stop drinking. It's his journey that he needs to go on and we'll support him on that."
"Things can turn around. I really hope this for Rami, I hope it for myself and, yeah, who knows what's going to happen next," she added.
Praising her fiancé for confronting the issue publicly, Collins said: "He has been brave sharing it with everyone and let's hope Rami goes back to the Rami we all love. But this is Rami's choice. You can't force someone to get well, they have to want it from within."
From wedding plans to 'the worst year of her life'
The eight-part Sky Original series was initially intended to follow Collins as she planned her wedding and pursued her hopes of becoming a mother.
Instead, cameras captured what she has described as the worst year of her life, as she faced Hawash's personal struggles, painful news about her fertility, and her mother's declining health.
In the trailer for the series, Collins says: "I had it all planned out. Marriage, babies. But the minute I started filming this show, my whole world fell apart." She is seen clashing with Hawash before revealing that he had "packed all his stuff and gone," and breaking down in tears.
Gemma Collins and Rami Hawash's relationship
Collins, who found fame on the ITV structured reality show The Only Way Is Essex, and businessman Hawash first dated in 2011 and became engaged on Christmas Day in 2013, before separating several weeks later.
They rekindled their romance in 2020 and became engaged for a second time during a holiday in the Maldives in February 2024. Collins is also stepmother to Hawash's eight-year-old son, Tristan.
Gemma Collins: Everything. All At Once launches on Sky and NOW on September 15.
Anyone affected by the issues raised can contact Alcohol Anonymous on 0800 917 7650 or at [email protected].
