Sue Grahame, the mother of late Big Brother star Nikki Grahame, has issued a stark warning over the rising popularity of weight-loss injections, describing them as "a nightmare" for people with eating disorders. She fears the appetite-suppressing drugs could be used by those already struggling with conditions like anorexia as another method of restricting food.
Nikki Grahame rose to fame on Big Brother in 2006 but battled anorexia for most of her life, first developing the condition at the age of seven after a childhood comment from another gymnast. She spent over a decade in more than 18 hospitals, including two and a half years at Great Ormond Street. A leading doctor reportedly told her she was "by far the worst" case he had ever seen.
Speaking to The Sun, Sue Grahame, 71, said the jabs "would have been a worry" while her daughter was alive. "They're already skinny and this just gives them another way to restrict food," she said. She also criticised "thinspiration" content on social media, which she said glorifies extreme thinness, and recalled that Nikki used to browse such material in secret.
Nikki died in April 2021 at the age of 38 after collapsing in a pharmacy. She was placed on a general ward due to a shortage of specialist eating disorder beds. Sue said care there was insufficient and at times "aggressive", and that staff suggested she could go home if she walked up and down a set of steps. She was discharged alone and died hours later. A nurse later told Sue that Nikki "shouldn't have gone home".
Dorset County Hospital conducted an internal investigation into her death. A spokesperson said at the time: "The review has not identified any shortfalls in care which might have influenced the outcome, but has enabled both trusts to review opportunities for further partnership in the management of future complex eating disorder cases."
