Love Island star Georgia Harrison was left fighting for her life after a cyst burst and spread an infection to several of her organs while she was in the UAE
Georgia Harrison’s life was forever changed when she discovered that her ex-boyfriend, Stephen Bear, had shared an intimate video of her online without her consent. The former Love Island star bravely waived her right to anonymity, taking Bear to court while using her platform to advocate for better laws surrounding image-based sexual abuse.
It’s therefore difficult to imagine that Georgia was also grappling with a potentially fatal medical crisis amidst the stress of this incident. But in 2020, she was mere hours away from death due to a ruptured cyst- and doctors said she was ‘lucky to be alive’.
“I had a ruptured cyst without knowing and it has caused multiple organs in my body to become severely infected, my kidneys being the worst,” the 30-year-old said in an Instagram Story at the time. “The doctors here are amazing, and we’re doing our best to fight the infection, but currently, I am still suffering from high fever when not on paracetamol and abdominal/ back pain.
“Lots of you have been asking for an update so there it is, I’ve never been someone to shy of sharing my day to day life with my followers.” In a separate conversation with The Sun, she added: “When I arrived they told me that if I had waited for one more night to get help I would have died.”
Research suggests that inflammation, genetics, hormonal dysfunction and stress are the main causes of ovarian cysts in women. Most ovarian cysts are harmless and often go unnoticed without ever breaking open.
But for Georgia this wasn’t the case, with her cyst bursting and spreading an infection to her bladder, liver and pelvis. She was hospitalised in Dubai and was unable to see her family at the time due to the Covid-19 restrictions.
It’s been reported that Stephen was also holidaying in Dubai while she was in hospital, which Georgia described as a ‘painful’ experience. “It was awful for my family knowing I was dangerously ill in hospital and he was drinking cocktails on the beach just miles away from me,” she told the publication.
“That was so painful for them.” In March 2023, Stephen Bear was jailed for 21 months for voyeurism and two counts of ‘revenge porn’, the ‘act of disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress’.
The now 35-year-old was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register and told not to contact Georgia for five years under a restraining order, reports the Mirror. However, in January 2024, Stephen was released early from jail, after serving just 10-and-a-half months of his sentence.
Months later, he was ordered to pay £22,305 to ‘to retrieve the ill-gotten gains he accumulated from publishing explicit content to a subscription site’ without consent. He was then told to pay a further £5,000 compensation to Georgia amidst the emotional and financial distress caused.
In light of her experiences, Georgia has filmed two documentaries, including an ITV two-part series released last week. At a time when the global porn industry is worth an estimated $1 billion, Georgia was keen to investigate just how far her own illegal video had spread, and who might be profiting from it.
On Instagram, Georgia said: “During the production of these docs I met some amazing people from all different spectrums of the world of porn hoping to shine light on the unethical issues still spiralling out of control behind closed doors whilst also learning about new technology being used to safe guard users.
“I take a deep dive into the circulation of image based sexual abuse, deep fakes and nudify apps and some of the stuff I uncover really is going to blow your mind!”
