Former Love Island star Georgia Harrison has detailed how her “life changed” forever after a private video of her was posted online without her consent by ex-boyfriend Stephen Bear. Following the harrowing incident, Georgia, who bravely waived her right to anonymity in a bid to help others who might be going through something similar, has opened up about how the ordeal affected her. In the year since, she has chosen to use her platform to campaign for better laws around image-based sexual abuse.
As part of her latest project, the 30-year-old has fronted the series Georgia Harrison: Porn, Power, Profit. The ITV documentary, which takes place across two episodes, will see Georgia look into the issue of deepfakes and image-based sexual abuse. Speaking about what to expect, she said: “What we really wanted to do was get to the bottom of who is behind the posting of image-based sexual abuse that's still out there.”.
The TV personality was left devastated in 2020 when she found out that she had been unknowingly filmed having consensual sex with Bear, with the footage then being shared online without her consent. Bear was jailed for 21 months in March 2023 after being found guilty of voyeurism by a majority verdict and guilty to two counts of disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress by a unanimous verdict by a jury. During the sentencing, Bear was given a restraining order and told not to contact Georgia for five years and was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register.
Speaking in court, Georgia said that she felt “violated” as she recalled the extent of the impact that the footage being published without her consent had on her life. “I had to live in fear that this was going to come out and my family were going to know about it. It was just like the worst feeling you can ever possibly imagine. I felt violated, I felt embarrassed - I hated myself for a really long time,” she said.
Meanwhile Judge Christopher Morgan said the victim, Georgia, lost work opportunities from multiple brands and was forced to pay legal fees due to Bear’s illegal conduct. He added that Bear posting the CCTV footage had a “devastating” impact on her. Following the conviction, Georgia said that she could now “start embracing the future”, and in March 2023 she left viewers in tears when she told her side of the story in the poignant documentary Revenge Porn: Georgia v Bear. Speaking to the camera, she broke down as she discussed the rippling impact it’d had on her life.
“I don't know what to do anymore. I've had my dignity and my privacy ripped beneath me, I've had my life changed forever. I've lost self-respect, I feel guilt, I feel ashamed - and he is just laughing, joking, having the time of his life,” she said. Months later, in October 2023, the Love Islander-turned activist said that life had been an “absolute whirlwind” following Bear’s conviction as she used her platform to campaign for change around the issue of image-based sexual abuse. As part of her work, Georgia has spoken to MPs, called for protections to be included in the Online Safety Bill and was given the Activist of the Year Award at the Glamour Women of the Year awards in 2023.
“I went from such a low place to such a high, I feel so empowered and that a lot of things are changing in society. I think we’re at a turning point where women are going to be protected so much more,” she reflected. Georgia added that she was “so proud” of her accomplishments since the release of her tell-all documentary. She added: “My proudest moment was making an amendment to the law. I’d spent so much time reading other women’s stories and I really wanted to do what I could for them.
“I had a success story but so many people don’t. When I got told the law was changing, that was monumental for me, I’m still taking it in.”. After serving just 10 and a half months of his sentence, disgraced reality star Bear was released from prison in January 2024. In March 2024, he was ordered to pay £22,305, which would be given to HM Treasury and distributed to police charities, and was also ordered to pay £5,000 in compensation to Georgia for emotional and financial distress.
In August last year, Georgia released her memoir Taking Back My Power: Our Bodies. Our Consent in which she reflected on her nightmare. “It’s a hard read,” she admitted to the Mirror. “There was a lot of traumatic things that happened to me very close together, but I hope that people can be inspired and hope I can truly help people going through hard times to navigate their journey and to have a bit of faith that it’s not the end and there are tools to get through those moments. And once you do there’s always something on the other side.”.
Five years on from the beginning of her ordeal, Georgia’s new documentary is her least work in the campaigning space - and she hopes it could lead to lasting change. Speaking to ITV, she revealed how she was hopeful it could cause “change within the internet, so in the future not just me but any person who has been a victim of revenge porn won’t have to wake up every day wondering if it’s still out there”.
