ITV Love Island's Maura Higgins reveals she 'could have died' after a tampon was stuck inside her for three months

Maura Higgins has shared how she was 'very ill' after discovering a tampon had been stuck inside her for THREE MONTHS. The former Love Island star shared to story with comedian and TV star Leigh Francis as the latest guest on his ITV2 show, Shopping with Keith Lemon.

Maura and Keith were seen wandering around and chatting in a branch of Boots when she made the revelation about suffering from toxic shock syndrome (TSS). While TSS is rare, it is a life-threatening condition caused by bacteria getting into the body and releasing harmful toxins.

According to the NHS, It's often associated with tampon use in young women, but it can affect anyone of any age – including men and children. "I did have a very bad experience," Maura said on the programme. "I'm not a doctor, I don't know much about that [TSS], but I know you are not meant to leave a tampon inside for more than, I think it's nine hours, I think that's the max.

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"There was a tampon inside me for three months. When the doctor found it, it was stuck to my cervix. And I was so ill. I did not know what was going on... There were people that have died from that happening."

Using her experience as a warning, the 31-year-old went on: "Young girls might not have noticed, like you go on a night out, what if you got really drunk and forgot, like, these things actually do happen, and people don't speak about it. I remember even being in school, I used to get my tampon out the bag, push it up my sleeve and then go to the toilet like that... thinking back, why was I doing that? It's nothing to be ashamed about, that's why I think it's an important topic isn't it?"

Also during the show, Maura leaves Keith shocked as she goes into detail on her sex life and bedroom habits but in a more sensitive moment, the Irish reality star tells the former Celebrity Juice host how she is trolled and compared to Michael Jackson.

It came as talk turned to her appearance, with Maura also revealing that she dyes her hair as she started going grey as a teenager. "I'm so grey you know, if I left it, it would be white the whole way out," she said. "When I was 17, it’s bad genes, isn’t it?"