Georgia Harrison’s world turned upside down when she found out her ex-boyfriend, Stephen Bear, had shared a private video of her online without her permission. The courageous former Love Island star chose not to remain anonymous and took Bear to court, while also using her influence to push for stronger laws against image-based sexual abuse.
Amid this turmoil, it’s hard to believe Georgia was concurrently battling a life-threatening health emergency. In 2020, she was just hours away from death owing to a ruptured cyst, and doctors considered her ‘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 with 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.”
Studies indicate that factors such as inflammation, genetics, hormonal imbalances, and stress are primary contributors to the development of ovarian cysts in women. Typically, most ovarian cysts are benign and remain undetected as they rarely rupture.
But for Georgia this wasn’t the case, with her cyst bursting and spreading an infection to her liver, bladder and pelvis. Stuck in a Dubai hospital and separated from her family due to Covid-19 restrictions at the time, she was distressed to learn that Stephen, also vacationing in the area.
“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’.
Stephen 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. Yet, 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.
Following her ordeal, Georgia has produced two documentaries, the latest is a two-part series which aired on ITV last week. With the worldwide porn industry valued at an incredible $1 billion, Georgia was eager to delve into the reach and illicit revenue of her own unauthorised video.
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!”