Reality star Gemma Collins has claimed to be a distant relative of the infamous Jack the Ripper after tracing her family history on the BBC show Who Do You Think You Are? Collins discovered that her ancestors lived next to the site where several of the Ripper’s victims were murdered in Spitalfields, east London, during the Victorian era. “No one knows who the ripper was, but we lived next door to where a lot of his victims were being killed. You just don’t know,” Collins said during filming for the programme, which airs on 26 September.
Collins also discovered that her family has been living in the east end of London for centuries, and found out about long-lost relatives in the area, including her mother Joan’s cousin Christine, who lives just 20 minutes away in Dagenham. “What a shocker it’s been for them in their life to wake up and be told ‘You’re related to the GC’,” Collins said. “It must’ve been one of those zombie apocalypse moments. [Thankfully] we all got on like a house on fire.”
The show also revealed that Collins’ grandmother had not abandoned her mother, as previously thought, but that Joan had actually been taken away by the state. “We’ve not known for so long,” Collins said. “It’s bittersweet and amazing. It’s been very cathartic putting my mum’s mind at rest about so much stuff that was unanswered for her.”
Collins, who is from Essex and has appeared on The Only Way Is Essex since 2011, also discovered during the show that her roots lie deeply in the county. “To be confirmed as a fully-fledged East-Ender that went out to Essex can only mean one thing – I need a starring role in Eastenders,” she joked
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