James Argent has admitted that he hated his on-off girlfriend Gemma Collins when she tried to help him while he was at his lowest point.
The former TOWIE star, 32, revealed at the weekend that he is a cocaine addict and that he suffered two near-fatal overdoes at his home last year.
Gemma, 39, had alerted emergency services twice, which led to his door being kicked in to save him.
But speaking to Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford on This Morning today, James said that he felt as though Gemma had "gone through so much" for him.
He explained: "I used to hate Gemma cos I'd say 'Why are you telling your family, friends and bosses of your TV show. You're gonna ruin my career! I don’t want people knowing.'
"She refused to cover up for me, lie for me. She never lied for me, she never wanted enable me continue in my addiction. At the time I hated her because I wanted get away with it to do what I wanted but she gave me some tough love for sure.
"She was hard on me but thank god she was. If it wasn’t for Gemma calling ambulances to my house, god knows what could have happened."
James added: "I’ve put my own life, career at risk, but more importantly it's what I've put my family through, my girlfriend, friends, manager... at the moment, the only way I can make amends is by staying clean and sober.
"It's all good making these promises that I'm going to do this and do that, but actions speak louder than words."
He also explained that his first incident happened on October 21 when he was the "biggest he's ever been".
"I hated everything about myself, I was at an all-time low and I remember around that period I was using drugs for two or three days straight," he said. "I had locked myself in my house - the house was pitch black.
"I bolted all my doors, I turned my phone off. People - friends, family, trying to call me for two days."
Gemma then decided to call for an ambulance as she was extremely worried.
He then used again on Christmas Day when he "completely lost hope".
Thankfully, he had a guardian angel in the form of best friend Mark Wright who has helped pull him through his dark times.
James said: "I rang up Mark and he got in contact with rehab in Thailand... he arranged everything and I'm forever grateful for that."
*This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV
