I'm A Celebrity star Scarlette Douglas has responded to people "having a go" at her on social media for not addressing her friend Jonnie Irwin's cancer battle online.
The A Place In The Sun host privately reached out to her former co-star after learning of his terminal diagnosis, after she left the ITV jungle series.
Jonnie was diagnosed with cancer while filming the show in Italy in 2020, but recently he confirmed his condition is now terminal.
Having been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer, he learned it had spread to his brain and was told he had months to live.
After hearing the news when she left the jungle, Scarlette decided to keep her messages to Jonnie private, but she was called out on social media for seemingly not reaching out to him.
Of course this was not the case, and on Monday Scarlette told Lorraine Kelly how she had been in touch with her pal to offer her support.
But she hit back, as did Lorraine, at those who claimed she had not reached out, explaining her decision to do it behind the scenes.
Lorraine said to her: "You had no idea while you were in [the jungle] that Jonnie, your friend, had been... gosh it's awful isn't it, poor soul, it's dreadful.
"You knew he had cancer but that was kept very secret. What I can't understand is some people were having a go at you for not posting your good wishes to him.
"But that's because you were talking to him in person, and you were talking to him. You don't need to do that, you don't need to."
Scarlette explained: "That's what it is, this world now everything's based on social media, and for me what was more important was to message him directly and let him know I'm thinking of him.
"If there's anything you need I'm here, I don't have to put that out everywhere or tweet about it, or put an Instagram post about it because it's personal, it's more private and for me that was the best way for me to deal with it."
Lorraine said: "He's your friend, he's going through a bad time and he knows you're there if he needs to talk to you, of course he does. You've been pals for years, and years and years."
Scarlette added: "Coming out and hearing what I heard was really hard, it's really hard."
Jonnie told Hello! magazine last month how he had secretly been battling terminal cancer and was given six months to live two years ago.
In his interview revealing his diagnosis, he said: "I'm carrying a dirty secret – it's become a monkey on my back. I don't know how long I have left, but I try to stay positive and my attitude is that I'm living with cancer, not dying from it.
"I set little markers – things I want to be around for. I got into the habit of saying, 'Don't plan ahead because I might not be well enough'.
"But now I want to make plans. I want to make memories and capture these moments with my family because the reality is, my boys are going to grow up not knowing their dad and that breaks my heart."
Lorraine airs weekdays at 9am on ITV1 and ITVX.
