Joey Essex, reality TV star and TOWIE legend, has never shied away from his difficult family history.<\/p>\n
With so much of his personal life shared with viewers around the world, Joey has openly discussed his mother’s tragic passing when he was just a child.<\/p>\n
With Mother’s Day just having passed, it is obviously a difficult time for Joey and his family.<\/p>\n
Here is an explanation of Joey’s family history and what happened with his mother, Tina Essex.<\/p>\n
Fans of the show will already know Joey’s family well.<\/p>\n
His two cousins – Chloe and Demi Sims – are both on The Only Way Is Essex, as have been other members throughout the whole series.<\/p>\n
This includes his older sister Frankie Essex.<\/p>\n
After suffering from candida for years, Tina Essex tragically took her own life, leaving behind her husband, Donny, and two children.<\/p>\n
It was not until two years after the event that Frankie and Joey learnt what had happened to their mother.<\/p>\n
In an extract of his book,\u00a0Being Reem<\/em>, published in\u00a0The Sun<\/strong> he said:<\/p>\n We didn’t know mum had committed suicide for about two years. Dad didn’t tell us how it happened to start with, he just said she fell over in an accident.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It was only when other school children told the sibling two years later that they understood what had happened.<\/p>\n In\u00a0Being Reem<\/em>, Joey said that it had a massive impact on him as a child.<\/p>\n He said:<\/p>\n Some people reckoned I stopped learning because of what happened to my mum. Almost like I froze in time. I don’t know about that but I remember it hitting me really hard<\/p><\/blockquote>\n He has been bravely forthcoming about the subject, as has the rest of his family.<\/p>\n Joey even opened up to his Celebs Go Dating date back in 2018.<\/p>\nWhat has Joey said about his mother’s death?<\/h3>\n