BEING apart for a lengthy period of time is challenging for any relationship.
But I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! star GK Barry is determined not to let her stay in the Australian jungle affect her romance with footballer girlfriend Ella Rutherford.
As the TikToker has been spotted secretly communicating with her other half thanks to a clever accessory addition to her outfit.
Eagle-eyed fans of the show have noted that GK’s name necklace doesn’t actually feature her own moniker, but instead reads “eyelashes”.
And it’s this that’s a cute reference to Ella.
In the comments of a video pointing out the necklace love note, one person wrote: “I love this!”
“I needed this,” another gushed.
“I was wondering what it said!” a third commented.
“Oh, that’s why!” someone else said.
Before they went public with their relationship, GK referred to Ella as “eyelashes” – with the nickname inspired by the fact Ella has “the best (fake) eyelashes in town”.
GK also has a little “E” on her nails as another reference to her girlfriend.
The pair’s romance was exclusively revealed by The Sun to be getting series in summer 2024, after they met each other’s family and holidayed together.
And speaking about her girlfriend to her fellow campmates in the I’m a Celebrity jungle, GK said: “It was by accident I found Ella, through a mutual friend and then I really liked her the first day I met her but I’d never told my parents.
“I’d mentioned, ‘Oh I’m just going to see my friend Ella’ or ‘I’m staying round Ella’s’ so they’d heard her name.”
Then, when they visited while Ella was there, GK told them she was her girlfriend.
“(But) They just love her, they never had an issue with it,” she added.
And despite being in the jungle on the other side of the world, GK is also managing to send her other half some sweet gifts.
GK Barry amassed more than a million followers on TikTok in just over a year during the first UK lockdown in 2020.
Grace Keeling, better known as GK Barry, is a 25-year-old social media influencer.
She rose to fame during the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, creating a TikTok account and posting short vlogs showcasing her day-to-day life.
Although she originally intended on staying low-key, she gained a large following in no time at all.
By August 2020, only five months after starting her account, she had already hit 100,000 followers, reaching more than a million in just over a year.
She now has over 4.5million followers across her social media platforms.
After completing a degree in film studies from Nottingham Trent University, Grace furthered her education with a master’s in digital marketing.
While at Nottingham Trent, she worked on the set of BBC series Doctors and the Netflix film Hood, as well as creating content for ShawMind — a charity working to promote mental health awareness.
Grace is known for her podcast, named The Saving Grace Podcast.
On the show she invites celebrities and influencers to have a chat about life and the latest trends, as well as any embarrassing stories from their past.
In May 2024, Grace said she was dating a female footballer.
Then in June it came out that the soccer star in question plays for England.
The Sun revealed that Grace and Charlton Athletic striker Ella Rutherford, 24, are getting serious — they’ve met each other’s family and holidayed together.
A source exclusively told The Sun: “GK has been seeing Ella for a while but they are very much official now.
“They grew even closer on holiday in Benidorm and GK has met all her family.
“She’s really happy and they are having so much fun together.”
Before heading into camp, GK sent a huge bunch of gorgeous red roses to her girlfriend, alongside a note which read: “I miss you, my little pea had angel.
“I love you xxxxx”.
Ella shared a snap of the flowers on her social media, and admitted it had left her in tears.
