I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!'s Giovanna Fletcher saved The Only Way Is Essex star's life after suicide attempt

I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!'s Giovanna Fletcher saved her The Only Way Is Essex star brother's life after he tried to take his own life.

Mario Falcone's sister is proving popular in the first ever UK version of I'm A Celeb - which this year is being filmed at Gwrych Castle along with I'm a Celebrity 2021. And he says he owes her his life.

Opening up to The Mirror, the reality TV star said, “People might not know this but Giovanna quite literally saved my life when I was at my lowest ebb.

“I was having a really difficult time eight years ago going through a very public break-up. I was getting a lot of hate on social media and felt really backed into a corner - like this was the only way out.”

Mario - who is now engaged to Becky Miesner, who he has one child with - has previously spoken about trying to commit suicide by taking an overdose of pills following his public split from Lucy Mecklenburgh in 2012.

The following morning, after being relieved to have been sick, Mario vowed to get help. And it was his sister, Giovanna, that was his saviour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUEUqldUTwc

“Giovanna was amazing - unbelievable. It was clear she was very shocked and upset. But in a crisis, she goes into super organised mode," he explained.

“She knew exactly what I needed to do and where I needed to go. She fixed up four days of counselling with a Harley Street doctor in London at the start and ten further appointments over the weeks.

“That really turned things around for me. She encouraged me to talk to people and not keep things bottled up. That saved my life - without any doubt.”

Giovanna is best known for being married to McFly star Tom Fletcher, but she's recently carved out her own spot in the limelight with her hugely popular podcast, Happy Mum Happy Baby - of which The Duchess of Cambridge, who recently spoke about growing in confidence as a mum, was previously a guest.

But what was it like interviewing the royal mum?

"It was completely surreal,’ Giovanna told OK!. "I’d been asking her to come on for years, ever since the podcast started. Sitting opposite her, drinking coffee and talking about parenthood was the most amazing experience.

"She’s so self-deprecating, warm, engaged – and she listens. She is one spectacular woman. I didn’t sleep much the night before. It’s so weird because you long to interview someone and then, when they say yes, you’re like, 'Oh, what do I do now?' But it became less scary when I started planning what I was going to ask because I realised it’s just two mums talking, so then I started to calm down."