Ferne McCann almost split from fiancé Lorri Haines following voice-note scandal

Clodagh McKeon

“I am literally so ashamed and embarrassed”

Ferne McCann has opened up about the impact that the voice-note scandal had on her relationship with fiancé Lorri Haines.

She spoke about it on the first episode of a new series called First Time Mum on ITV that aired on Wednesday night.

The voice-note gate started in November of last year when an anonymous Instagram account, called Lady Whistledown after the Bridgerton secret gossip sharer, posted a series of voice messages from a woman they claimed was Ferne.

The voice heard a woman’s voice label one of the victims of acid attacker, Arthur Collins’ a ‘silly b****’ while another saw Ferne accused of body-shaming Sam Faiers.

She has since apologised to anyone mentioned in the voice-notes but is now speaking on how the experience has impacted her and her family.

She said she even found it “traumatising” to leave the house and pick her daughter Sunday up from school.

Both Ferne and Lorri admitted the strain the scandal caused led to them almost splitting up with Lorri saying it was a “smear campaign” against him.

He spoke about how hard he found accusations that he was only interested in Ferne for financial gain and he admitted he would often leave his fiancée to “cry in a different room” as he wanted to be strong for her.

Lorri explained that when Ferne would ask him about the voice note scandal he would “lie” to his fiancé by telling her everything was going to be okay when in reality he had doubts.

He told Ferne the experience has “put a strain on our relationship” and he struggled at times to understand how she got in that situation.

“I was p****d off that you had been manipulated by this person,” Lorri said.

He said he wished that he could have been with Ferne when she recorded the voice notes five years ago because he thought the person behind them was trying to trick the reality star.

He said: “I wish you asked yourself, ‘Why would she keep asking me the same question five times?'”

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A post shared by Ferne McCann (@fernemccann)

Earlier in the programme, Ferne addressed the voice notes.

She said: “When I listen back to the voice notes about Sam Faiers, I am literally so ashamed and embarrassed and I know the words are really hurtful and it was a time when I was really hurting.

“Just to explain, they were from five years ago when me and Sam had a fall out. It’s really hard for me to talk about.”