Georgia Harrison: what did Love Island star say about revenge porn and impact Stephen Bear case had on career?

Georgia Harrison has opened up about the impact her revenge porn experience has had on her career in an interview with BBC News. The 28-year-old reality TV star explained “television was always my passion and [producers] just couldn’t consider me.”

Harrison started legal proceedings against her ex-boyfriend Stephen Bear in 2020, who had sold CCTV footage of the pair having sex in his garden to the website OnlyFans, without Harrion’s consent. Reality TV personality Bear, who won Celebrity Big Brother in 2016, was found guilty of one count of voyeurism and two counts of disclosing private sexual photographs or films with the intent to cause distress.

On Good Morning Britain - in her first interview following Bear’s conviction - she revealed she had hid in her room “for a long time” after the footage was released. Harrison has since opened up about the impact it has had on her career. Here’s what she said.

Who is Georgia Harrison?

Harrison is a 28-year-old social media influencer who has appeared on The Only Way is Essex in 2014 and season 3 of Love Island where she partnered up with Sam Gowland. The reality TV star has also made appearances on Celebrity Ex On The Beach, War of the Worlds 2, and The Challenge.

She has a huge following on social media, with over 1.1 million followers on Instagram and has co-founded an activewear company called GHX Style. In an Instagram post on 15 December, she thanked fans for their “support” during this time and gave words of encouragement to anyone who has “fallen victim to similar crimes.”

Her caption read: “Thank you for all of your support. I truly want to let go of any negativity and concentrate souly on positive changes to our society to help protect everyone but most importantly the younger generation. to all of those who have fallen victim to similar crimes I hear you and I stand with you. We cannot control all of the things that happen in our lives but we can choose to not let them define us.”

What was Stephen Bear found guilty of?

Bear was found guilty of sharing a video of him having sex with his ex-girlfriend Harrison on the website OnlyFans without her consent. He claimed at Chelmsford Crown Court that he had deleted the footage that day and had shared it with no-one other than Harrison.

But a jury found him guilty of one count of voyeurism and two counts of disclosing private sexual photographs or films with the intent to cause distress. Following the guilty verdict, Bear said in court: “My barrister said not to…In my opinion from the very beginning it was never a fair trial, what the press said against me. I was fighting a losing battle and it is what it is.”

What has Georgia Harrison said?

Harrison gave her first TV interview following the conviction on Good Morning Britain on 15 December. In it she revealed she had hid in her room when the video went online in 2020, telling presenters Adil Ray and Ranvir Singh that she felt “hurt and humiliated”.

The reality TV star said: “It’s actually been two years since the day it happened and to be honest I really did hide myself in a room for a long time. Everywhere I went people were speaking about it. I did feel hurt, humiliated, ashamed and I felt very used that you could love and trust someone knowing that moment that you thought was a moment of love, was really a moment of making of money for them.”

Harrison recently opened up in an interview with the BBC about the effect the incident had on her and her career. The 28-year-old went on to explain that following the incident she had been overlooked for jobs.

She said: “My agent had conversations with brands, but when they looked at who they wanted to book for a specific job, because of what happened, I was just a red flag.” Harrison added: “It’s been really hard and there’s been a couple of times that I did just have a massive breakdown, television was always my passion and [producers] just couldn’t consider me.”

She compared the feelings she experienced after the footage was shared online without her consent as “grief”, adding “it affects you for a really long time.”

The Samaritans can offer information and support for anyone affected by the content of this article. You can call their helpline on 116 123 or email [email protected] in the UK.