Ferne McCann admits she 'instantly knew who was behind voice note leak'

Ferne McCann : First Time Mum returned this evening as the reality star broke her silence on the voice note scandal after previously admitting she was unable to share her "full truth".

Following Ferne's appearance on This Morning earlier today, the star's new series returned to ITVX - with the first episode of the 10th season set to air at 9pm.

The former TOWIE star, who is pregnant with her second child, said: "When I listen back to the voice notes about [Sam Faiers], I am literally so ashamed and embarrassed and I know the words are really hurtful and it was a time when I was really hurting."

"Just to explain, they were from five years ago when me and Sam had a fall out. It's really hard for me to talk about."

Ferne admitted she "remembers instantly" who she sent the voice notes to but they had been edited to remove context in order to "destroy [Ferne] and inflict as much damage as possible".

"There's only one person I know who would want to inflict this much pain and damage - they destroyed me," she added.

On Wednesday's This Morning, Ferne broke down in tears as she opened up on the voice note controversy.

She admitted: "It definitely wasn't my finest hour, and it definitely was a very difficult time in my life when those voice notes were leaked.

"I do need to take this opportunity to publicly apologise again to those affected. Obviously the words that I used were unpleasant and I have reached out privately to those people."

Ferne continued: "It's very difficult because I would love to sit here with you guys and my followers to share exactly what went on. But it's now part of a criminal investigation so I can't do that.

"But what I can say, these voice notes were from a time when I was in a very vulnerable situation and a very difficult situation for me five to six years ago.

"Since then, I have done a lot of work on myself, I have been in therapy for six years and I feel that I am a different person.

"Even though I can't share my full truth and I know how frustrating that is for people listening, I know that one day I will get that chance to fully be able to hopefully sit with you guys on the sofa and be 100% transparent.

"I know that my story will be able to help a lot of women but until then I can't say too much."

Ferne McCann: First Time Mum continues on ITVBe on Wednesday at 9pm.