Stacey Solomon has hit back at media reports about her older sister Jemma, saying the coverage left her family with no choice but to speak out. In a post shared yesterday, the presenter said the piece was unfair, nasty and bullying, and made clear she was talking about a MailOnline article and also the Daily Mail.
Solomon said the article was not really about her, but about her sister, who spent 11 years working in the NHS as a paediatric nurse. She said Jemma was being reduced to a line about wanting to be a full-time influencer, and said that was wrong. "My sister's a better woman than I'll ever be," Solomon wrote, adding that Jemma was an incredible woman who had helped so many people and deserved far better treatment.
The comments came after Solomon recently returned from a trip to Miami with her two eldest sons and Jemma. She said she was so proud of her sister and that people still stop her in the street with tears in their eyes to say Jemma was there for their children when they needed help. That, Solomon said, was proof of the impact her sister has had on families who met her through her work. "How dare you denounce her 11 years in the NHS as a paediatric nurse," she wrote, before saying Jemma was not trying to be her and was not in her shadow. "I'm in her shadow," Solomon added.
Solomon later captioned the post as a message for her sister and apologized for the rant, telling Jemma she deserved so much better. She also said she had recorded the message the day before but jet lag got to her before she could post it. The reaction online was swift. Emmerdale star Danny Miller wrote in support, saying Jemma shone throughout the whole show and was not someone he would describe as being in anyone's shadow. Other responses praised both sisters, with one warning not to mess with the Solomon sisters and another calling Jemma amazing and saying the pair are the nicest girls ever.
The backdrop to the row is simple: Solomon usually uses Instagram for upbeat family updates, but this time she chose to confront what she saw as a direct attack on her sister. Jemma, who built a reputation through 11 years in paediatric nursing, was no longer being discussed only as Stacey Solomon’s sibling. She was being judged in public on the basis of a career move, and Stacey decided that was where she would draw the line.
What happens next is less about the original article than about whether the criticism fades or hardens into a bigger family dispute. For now, Solomon has made her position plain: her sister is not in her shadow, and she wants the story to end there.
