'It helped me love myself'

Georgia Harrison talks about her tough ordeal with Stephen Bear and why she still trusts men

- Gemma McCartney

As a victim of a sex crime, former Love Island star Georgia Harrison has been through a traumatic three years. She bravely pursued fellow reality star Stephen Bear via the courts and her tenacity paid off when he was jailed.

Having had her world turned upside down, the 28-year-old is now looking forward to getting her TV career back on track and taking on some “light-hearted” projects.

“I’ve got things in the pipeline, so I’ve just got my fingers crossed that I get the opportunity I deserve,” she tells us when we catch up at the launch of Ferne McCann and fiancé Lorri Haines’ new app Shoorah.

Bear secretly filmed Georgia during consensual sex in August 2020 and leaked the contents on OnlyFans. He was convicted earlier this year of two counts of disclosing private sexual photographs and films with the intent to cause distress and two counts of voyeurism. He was sentenced to 21 months behind bars.

Georgia went on to share her experiences of this harrowing time in her unflinching ITV documentary Revenge Porn: Georgia Vs Bear, and says the time is now right to move on with new projects.

“I just feel like for a long time I haven’t really had anything come in since the situation happened – and I know I had my documentary, but it was still based on that. It’d be amazing to get my television career back on track and have a nice light-hearted, fun bit of work, where I can just be my own personality and be praised for being me.”