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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Entertainment
Susan Knox & Zoe Delaney

Sam and Billie Faiers break silence as Ferne McCann 'mourns' friendship after voice notes

Sam and Billie Faiers have broken her online silence following former friend Ferne McCann telling James Argent exactly why she made cruel jibes about Sam.

Ferne appeared on This Morning on Wednesday and broke down in tears as she spoke with hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, where the three stars discussed the voice notes in which Ferne made a series of comments about her former pals Sam and Billie Shepherd, allegedly calling Sam a "fat c***".

In other voice notes, Ferne appeared to call mum-of-three Sam a narcissistic b***h', whilst in another Ferne was accused of hitting out at Billie for giving her son the same name as her jailed ex Arthur, whilst weeks later the anonymous account claimed Ferne made comments about her ex Arthur's acid attack victim Sophie Hall.

Speaking on the first episode of First Time Mum, Ferne sobbed as she explained: "When I listen back to the voice notes about [Samantha], I am literally.... I am so ashamed and embarrassed and I know the words are really hurtful and it was at a time when I was really hurting," Ferne sobs when recalling the ordeal on the ITV show.

Sam posted a throwback snap without Ferne (Instagram/samanthafaiers)
Sam Faiers and Ferne McCann were friends before either star appeared on TOWIE (Brett Cove/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock)

She went on to add: "Just to explain, they were from FIVE YEARS AGO when me and Sam had fallen out. It's really hard for me to talk about."

Since the emotional scenes aired on ITV on Wednesday, Ferne's former BFF Sam has been silent on social media but has now returned to Instagram to to admit that she's living her best life with her group of girl friends.

Posting the throwback snap, Sam said that she was living her best life with her friends as she posed alongside her friends - without Ferne.

Elsewhere, Billie also broke her social media silence as she took to Instagram to share a gorgeous family snap after Ferne's admissions.

Billie posted an adorable snap of her baby (Instagram/billieshepherdofficial)
Billie has broken her silence (Instagram/billieshepherdofficial)

Ferne claims the voice notes leaked on Instagram last year were originally sent from her several years ago - with the star also suspecting the audio has been edited to remove context.

As the time Ferne says she made the comments, her then-boyfriend Arthur Collins had just been sent to prison ahead of the former couple welcoming their first child into the world together.

Elsewhere during First Time Mum's season opener on Wednesday night, Ferne paid a visit to see one of her former co-stars and revealed why she sent those voice notes all those years ago.

She tearfully told James Argent : "I think the place that I was at, Sam had it all. She had a partner she had a baby and I didn't.

Ferne discussed the voice note scandal on her reality TV show (ITV)

"Yeah, I'm not condoning it. I did say something really nasty about her and it has affected my friendships. At the moment, my friendship with Billie... You know how much I... [cries] It's really hard."

When Arg asked if she can fix the situation and if she's contacted Billie, she answered: "Yes and no, I understand the position she's in... I've tried to message her lots but I get it.

"I'm very much mourning the loss of a 22-year friendship. It's hard. I massively regret it but I'm unable to do a lot apart from my trust in the police, try and patch things back together..."

Ferne misses the two sisters (ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Sam is yet to explicitly speak out about the leaked voice notes but mum Suzie Wells issued a statement via her Instagram Stories about the situation last year, as the first leaked voice notes featuring Ferne's voice were leaked on Instagram.

Suzie took to social media on September 28 to slam her kid's former friend and defend her daughters and said within her lengthy statement: "Ferne has always been a very close family friend to all of us for over the past 20 years. It appears this voice note was sent just weeks after Samantha gave birth back in May.

"Since this voice note has surfaced more have been sent - very upsetting nasty things. We are as shocked as you are! Nobody should ever speak about their friends like this ever!"

Do you think Ferne should be forgiven for the voice notes? Vote in our poll HERE to have your say.

Speaking about the voice notes on This Morning on Wednesday, an emotional Ferne said: "It wasn't my finest hour and it definitely was a very difficult time in my life when those voice notes were leaked. I need to take this opportunity to publicly apologise again to those affected," she began.

"Obviously the words I used where unpleasant, but I have reached out privately to those people. It's very difficult - I'd love to sit here with you guys and with my followers and share exactly what went on, but it's now part of a criminal investigation."

She added: "I can't do that but what I can say is, these voice notes were from a time when I was in a very vulnerable situation and it was a very very difficult situation for me, five or six years ago. Since then, I've done a lot of work on myself.

Ferne was best friends with Billie and Sam (ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

"I've been in therapy for six years and I feel that I am a different person and even though I can't share my full truth, and I know how frustrating that is for people listening, I know that one I will get that chance to fully be able to be 100 percent transparent. I know my story will be able to help a lot of women, but for now I can't say too much."

An Essex Police spokesperson told the Mirror last year that the matter was subject to a police probe.

"We are investigating a report of malicious communication which was made to us in Brentwood on Thursday 29 September," the spokesperson said, "We have spoken to the victim, a woman aged in her 30s, and our enquiries are ongoing."

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