I’m A Celebrity star GK Barry recently revealed she’s dating a footballer – and, during her time in the jungle, she’s been very vocal about her gorgeous girlfriend, Ella Rutherford.
The couple met via social media after following each other on Instagram. And, speaking on the star’s podcast Saving Grace, Ella has since revealed that, when she slid into the DMs, she said: “Is now a good time to tell you that you’re beautiful?”
It’s a chat-up line that worked as the ladies have been going strong ever since. However, the I’m A Celebrity and Ipswich Town star Ella did keep their romance on the down low for a while…
How they met and got together
Grace was the first to follow Ella on Instagram. The footballer then slid into the TikTok star’s DM and thus began their romance.
Ella revealed she planned an elaborate proposal to ask Grace to be her girlfriend. She snuck into her house and stuck pictures of them together on the wall with candles everywhere. The footballer used rose petals to write “Be my GF” on Grace’s bed.
Grace said, the “thought of putting each rose petal down on the bed” was the “sweetest thing anyone’s ever done” for her. Of course, she said yes.
GK Barry on cute nickname for girlfriend Ella
Grace wanted to keep her girlfriend’s identity a secret when they first started dating. So she gave her the nickname ‘Eyelashes’.
The TikTok star would refer to Ella by her cute nickname in all her interviews. But it didn’t take fans long to find out who she was dating. They reportedly started dating in early 2024.
At first, Grace was very secretive about Ella. During an episode of her podcast, the I’m A Celebrity star said: “I’m not gonna say who it is, but I’m gonna give her a nickname called Eyelashes. So whenever I refer to Eyelashes, I am talking about the love of my life.”
However, in September, the couple finally opened up about their adorable love story on the same podcast. Ella revealed that Grace called her Eyelashes because “I have the best eyelashes out there”.
She was ‘traumatised’ by girlfriend’s hospitalisation
Ella underwent surgery before her girlfriend’s stint in I’m A Celebrity. And Grace did what any loving partner would do – went to pick Eyelashes up from the hospital.
However, the Loose Women star hadn’t “really” found herself in a hospital environment before, except for when she went to see her grandmother once. Then she was younger and “didn’t have any of the anxiety” that she said she experienced when she went to see Ella in hospital.
“I don’t know what’s happened but it’s got a lot worse. Mentally ill and, yeah, so anyway. I go pick Eyelashes up from the hospital and she… I walk in and she’s in the bed,” she said, according to the Daily Record.
“She’s in her own little room and she’s in the bed and I think she just looks so [bleep]ing sweet, like her little baby hairs are everywhere.”
Grace couldn’t wait to cuddle her girlfriend and the two were embracing each other when the room suddenly became a bit hot. She started to hear beeping and saw nurses run hurriedly.
“And before you know it, I’m having a panic attack. I’m not even there for a reason. I was there to pick her up. I’m like out the bed, like manually breathing like: ‘Babe, we’ve got to go,’” Grace said.
The TikTok star thought it was the end of her panic attack as she and Ella walked out of the hospital. However, she came across a “woman with a feeding tube” and her episode started “all over again”.
Unconventional parting gift
Unlike most couples who give each other plush toys or chocolates as gifts, Grace planned something different for Ella before entering the jungle.
In an interview with ITV, Grace said she gave Ella a cardboard cutout of herself. “I have got her a cardboard cut out of me so it’s not weird when I am away” Grace said.
Ella, who is rooting for girlfriend is “very excited” for her and thinks she’ll ace all the trials. Ella also gushed over how “proud” she was of Grace after her first trial.
GK Barry gets her mum’s seal of approval over girlfriend Ella
Speaking on Loose Women today (November 21), Grace’s mum Loretta told the panel how she met her daughter’s partner for the first time. And we can safely say Ella’s got the seal of approval.
“When we got back [from holiday], we went to her house and Ella was there. Grace said: ‘Mum, this is Ella…’ and we said: ‘Hi Ella!’ And to be honest with you, I am so pleased that she’s found someone that is honest and kind and hardworking…
“As long as they’re happy, I don’t care.”
Grace has also opened up about how she came out to her parents while in the jungle.
“It was by accident I found Ella, through a mutual friend and then I really liked her the first day I met her but I’d never told my parents. I’d mentioned: ‘Oh I’m just going to see my friend Ella’ or ‘I’m staying round Ella’s’ so they’d heard her name,” she told her campmates.
Speaking about a situation when her parents came down to her house to visit when Ella was there, they asked: “Who’s Ella?” and she told them: “Oh, she’s my girlfriend.”
She explained: “They just love her, they never had an issue with it. They’ve always said whoever you end up with we do not care, boy or girl we don’t care, as long as they’re not a [bleep].”
I’m A Celebrity airs every night at 9pm on ITV1.
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