Michelle Heaton apologises for being too scared to visit Nikki Grahame in her final days
Michelle Heaton has made a heartfelt tribute to close friend Nikki Grahame, apologising for being too frightened to visit the reality TV star in her final days.
Grahame died on Friday aged 38 after a long battle with anorexia and singer Heaton offered an emotional apology at missing her last chance for a visit.
Read more: Davina McCall and Pete Bennett remember Nikki Grahame
She posted a photo on Instagram of herself and Big Brother star Grahame in their early days of fame and captioned it: "Dear Nikki, I’m so sorry I didn’t come. I was scared to see you.. to say anything that may be a trigger to loose you.. I was a coward and I’m so sorry.
"I just listened to our voices notes, our messages, and the phone calls over the last few weeks .. I think I knew, and I was too weak to know.
"Your last one, telling us you saw me on @lorraine & wished us all better and to call you. YOU thought of us even when on that day you were where you were!"
Heaton had appeared on Lorraine to talk about her worries for Grahame, but in her Instagram post she also went on to criticise some of their other friends for not getting in contact – although she praised Imogen Thomas and Nicola McLean for their unfailing support.
She added: "Some of the 'respects' I wanna call bull s***! (You know who u r and I hope u have fun with your 5 mins of fame online .. give yourselves a pat on the back)."
Heaton shared some of her favourite memories with Grahame, including holidays and celebrity events.
Sharing that the photo was from a music awards ceremony, she wrote: "We went as a couple lol! (Coz we were not as famous as the others to get plus 1’s 😂) hand on hip! wayyy to much fake tan.. pale lips thinking we look amazing. Held our breath every time we had a picture coz we wanted to 'look good' 😃 then landed in the press comparing us to trash .. as they do!
Read more: Michelle Heaton urges people to get vaccinated after catching coronavirus
"But we didn’t care! Coz there was a FREE bar! Mini fish and chips going around! Smoked salmon on soggy crisp bread with crusty bits of wasabi (first time either of us had had smoked salmon)
"Michael Jackson was on stage and we just went looking for the goody bags under every ones chair."
Heaton ended the post with a twist on her friend's famous quote: "Who Is she... who is she...She is @nikkigrahameofficial."
Watch: Big Brother's Pete Bennett makes tribute to Nikki Grahame
