[Mrluvaluva]

Former Big Brother star Imogen Thomas has revealed how working with desperately sick children in some of the world’s worst shanty towns helped nurse her broken heart after she split from England footballer Jermain Defoe.

The Llanelli-born model left her pampered lifestyle behind to spend three weeks in some of South Africa’s poorest slums in a bid to experience the grim reality of life there.

And the harrowing scenes of tiny children wandering deadly streets in the dark, and rooms full of HIV-positive babies raped and abandoned by their families made her reassess how serious her problems really were.

Imogen, 27, who flew out to South Africa last November to film Wags, Kids and World Cup Dreams, said: “I was approached to do the show because I was with Jermain and he was really supportive and told me to go for it.

“We split up just before I was due to fly out but the producers said they still wanted me to go. It was something I really wanted to do, but it was hard leaving because when I got on the aeroplane I still hadn’t heard from Jermain and I think that would have helped as I was feeling very emotional about it all.

“He’d always been really supportive of me and I’d hoped he’d get in touch before I went.

“But when we got there, it put everything in perspective. I couldn’t believe it.

“We went to an orphanage called Baphumelele Children’s Home, which is in one of the most crime-ridden and dangerous shanty towns.

“Ellie Darby [West Ham’s Matthew Upson’s partner] and I were told we would be looking after 37 babies who basically needed round-the-clock attention.

“It was so difficult, I just kept thinking ‘What have they done to deserve this?’ Many of them had HIV or had been raped and abused by their own families, yet they were so welcoming and smiling and really well-behaved.”

But Imogen was almost pushed to breaking point as she had to change dirty nappy after dirty nappy and give children vital anti-viral medicine.

She said: “We had to inject the medicine into the babies’ mouths and I felt like I couldn’t really take it in. I knew it was going to be hard but I didn’t think it would be as hard as it was.

“We only had two to three hours sleep a night and at one point I probably looked like a pouty child but I got really cross because I just wanted to have half an hour outside to myself.

“We were stuck in the same room for hours on end and, although the children were really well-behaved, the noise gave me a headache.

“Looking after one child is hard enough, but we had 37 to look after and I just felt like crying all the time because of what they were going through. It just seemed so unfair.

“I was an emotional wreck by the end of it. I was so emotionally drained. I was missing Jermain but it did make me realise that there are always people far worse off than you. I was devastated when I went there because of Jermain but as soon as I saw the horrific poverty it put everything into perspective.

“We were only allowed our mobiles for five minutes every two days and there were so many times I just wanted to ring my mum.

“I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much in my life but I don’t regret a single minute of it and hope that being there made some difference to the children.”

After leaving the orphanage, Imogen and the other Wags, including Emile Heskey’s partner Chantelle Tagoe and Frank Lampard’s ex-fiancée Elen Rives, travelled to Johannesburg where Imogen admits she was terrified by the stories of young abused women.

She said: “There I was peeling about 150 carrots and this women was telling me how her husband raped her and allowed his friends to rape her and it only stopped when she stabbed him to death.

“She had amazing spirit and had turned to God and was a very spiritual person, but to hear stories like that makes you realise just how big the problem is.

“It was in a place called Twilight that I really felt I made a difference. It was a boys’ shelter and, if it makes sense, I really felt at home there.

“While I was there I managed to rescue five street boys and persuade them to move to the hostel and I felt I was doing something positive.

“They were amazing things, they had nothing.

“Their trainers had holes in and I bought them new ones and it was brilliant to see them running around in them. A few months on, three of them are still there and are doing really well. It means so much that I could help.”

But, while there were many high points during the three-week trip, Imogen – who split with Spurs star Defoe last year – said she will never forget the sight of a grandmother beating her granddaughter with a stick, or toddlers wandering the streets with nowhere to go and no-one looking out for them.

She said: “It was so hard and there were lots of really bad patches, where I couldn’t cope with the cameras staring at me. In Big Brother, you forget the cameras are on you all the time but making this, and seeing such difficult things, sometimes I just got very cranky and wanted them to go away.

“Honestly, I don’t think I’ve cried so much in ages. I grew up on a council estate in Llanelli, brought up by a single mum and we didn’t have it easy but it was nothing compared to the poverty and danger in South Africa.

“It was a very humbling experience and I’m so pleased I did it. It helped me get over breaking up with Jermain and hopefully made a difference to some people.”

Imogen is now concentrating on her modelling career and admits she’s young, free, single – and loving it that way.

She said: “I’ve got no problem with Jermain, it’s all in the past now. I’m doing my own thing, and I’m happy.”


Wales Online

Wags, Kids and World Cup Dreams is on BBC Three tonight at 9pm for anyone who is interested.

[arista]

No

I will not go to the Bloated BBC at 9PM.

I am watching a Quality 1080 ITVHD Lewis 8-10PM
thriller is super surroundings of Oxford.

BBC3 should Close
most of the time it is a Loop of Repeats.
I want my Refund from the Bloated BBC

[Shasown]

Nah cant really say watching talentless, empty headed vain celebrity-wannabes receiving a lesson in the harsh reality of life does it for me. Listening to them tell us how we have it so easy compared to other countries and how we should be grateful for what we have.

Mind you a nice little earner for the WAGS and hopefully it will ease their collective consciences on being gold digging money grabbing eyecandy in their relationships.

The hardest bit to swallow is hearing those magic words, "Its changed the way I view life forever".

[Mrluvaluva]

Originally Posted by arista

No

I will not go to the Bloated BBC at 9PM.

I am watching a Quality 1080 ITVHD Lewis 8-10PM
thriller is super surroundings of Oxford.

BBC3 should Close
most of the time it is a Loop of Repeats.
I want my Refund from the Bloated BBC

I won't be watching it either Arista but it might be of interest to somebody.

[KingPrawn]

Fancy having to google the word 'Apartheid'.

[*mazedsalv**]

I watche dit last night on BBC3, was very interesting, not as good as Blood, Sweat and Luxuries... that is a show worth watching defenitley!!

[Beastie]

I watched a bit of it last night. Meh. Imogen crying before she went.. and acting "thick". How the hell did she get a degree?

[Beastie]

However I admire the WAG who is training for the 800m. Her goal is to bring back the gold medal in the Olympics 2012. Not sure if it will happen.. but beats going shopping and spending her boyfriend/hubby's money everyday!

[Zippy]

I saw that tv show last night. OMFG all those poor babies abandoned. I don't know how the workers coped with the relentless nappy changing, feeding, medication and just watching them all scattered all over the floors! Then there were the older kids who had been raped and abandoned on roads. Just awful to watch.

Good on the wags for getting stuck in. Although some seemed to be ex wags. Ellie is not with Lampard and Imogen has been dumped yet again by another footballer!

Poor girl. They obviously don't see her as marriage material coz she's had more players in her than Wembley stadium.

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

her fanny is a shanty town

[Shaun]

Just realised she was on this.