TOWIE's Yazmin Oukhellou tried to wake boyfriend Jake after horror crash
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TOWIE star Yazmin Oukhellou has opened up about the car crash that killed her partner Jake McLean.
Oukhellou and McLean dated on and off for four years. She was visiting him for a long weekend while he was holidaying in Turkey in July this year when the crash happened. After eating out at a restaurant, they were driving to a friend's villa when Oukhellou fell asleep in the car. She awoke to see the car barraging off of a rock verge. The crash injured Oukhellou and killed McLean.
Oukhellou spoke about the horrific ordeal in July, but in a new interview with The Sun, she has shared details about how she tried to wake up McLean as the car lay wrecked on the ground.
Related: TOWIE star Yazmin Oukhellou opens up about terrifying crash that killed her boyfriend Jake McLean
"I tried to wake Jake up, but he wasn’t waking. I tried to beep the horn with my foot, but I couldn’t reach it. We were in the middle of nowhere and so screaming for help wasn’t any good," she said.
"I knew I had to get out of the car and somehow I found the strength to free my arm by lifting it with my left hand, moving my right arm up and dropping it back down for what felt like forever until I snapped it free."
"I knew in my gut he’d gone."
"They said they were taking him to another hospital and kept telling me he was alive and OK – I think because they didn’t want to cause me any further distress."
Related: TOWIE's Yazmin Oukhellou in a "stable" condition following car crash
Oukhellou is now taking a sabbatical from TOWIE as she recovers both physically and mentally from the horror crash. But while her physical injuries may well be recovering, her psychological injuries are anything but given the life-altering nature of such a horrific incident.
Oukhellou said that internet trolls have made the whole situation even worse. She has posted several pictures of her smiling on Instagram, which led to some trolls saying she'd gotten over the accident quickly.
“Experiencing that level of scrutiny has been extremely hard. I can’t lie and say those comments don’t affect me, because they really do," she said.
Related: TOWIE's Georgia Kousoulou opens up on postnatal depression struggles
"If I have dinner out with friends, these people will post saying: ‘Oh, she’s got over it quick.’ I block those people straightaway, but they’re the ones I’ll focus on for the rest of the day and beyond. When I read those comments, I feel sick."
She continued: "There’s not a day where I don’t think about the crash. Just because I’m smiling in a picture, it doesn’t mean I’m smiling inside. But spending time with those closest to me is an hour or two where I can escape from my reality. I know how incredibly fortunate I am to have survived, but now I feel as though some people want me to still suffer – and I don’t understand why.
"None of them know what is going on in my life. I’m torn apart with grief for Jake. It affects me every minute of the day. Just because I have a meal in a restaurant or travel abroad to work on my healing process, doesn’t change that."
The Only Way Is Essex airs on ITVBe.
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