Abbie Quinnen has broken her silence after her horror accident.
The 23-year-old suffered third-degree burns after a blazing wine bottle exploded in her face when a social media stunt with her boyfriend AJ Pritchard went wrong.
The dancer was rushed to A&E when the incident occurred in January, and has made further 20 hospital visits since, needing three skin grafts.
Taking to Instagram after the news broke earlier today, Abbie wrote: “I am sad I have been absent in the last few weeks and haven’t posted much with AJ, we so desperately wanted to be able to share daily vlogs with you all but unfortunately I have had an accident.”
“Whilst we were attempting to create a glass bottle into a vase from following a YouTube tutorial, it went terribly wrong and it resulted in me incurring injuries and burns requiring continuous hospital treatment over the past 7 weeks.”
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“I really need you all to be so careful with what you’re doing and if you are copying any YouTube videos. I will be ok! I love you all!”
“I also want to say a massive thank you to the nurses and doctors at the Chelsea and Westminister burns unit for their incredible care and treatment,” she added.
Her boyfriend AJ spoke about the accident on the latest episode of the AJ v Curtis podcast with his brother Curtis, thanking fans for their kind messages following the news.
The I’m A Celeb star said: “It came out that the there was an accident with Abbie. And I just want to say just make it quite brief, to be honest.”
“For anybody that hasn’t seen the story yesterday where Abbie had an accident. That’s why I’m just saying thank you for all the lovely messages and everything if you didn’t see it in the newspapers, thank you very much for all the love and support and the kind messages.”
“I know we haven’t replied to everybody. But yeah, thank you for that. And we will talk about it further down the line when we both feel comfortable.”
“So yeah, just thanks for that love. It means a lot on your support, it keeps us all going,” he added.
A source told The Sun On Sunday: “AJ and Abbie were stuck at home during lockdown and, like many people, started making social media videos to pass the time. But this tutorial went horribly wrong.”
“Abbie’s whole upper body went up in flames. It all happened very quickly. It was like something from a horror film,” the insider added.
“Abbie was shocked and in a great deal of pain but AJ sprang into action to put out the fire with a wet tea towel. He was terrified himself but he did all he could to stop her from burning.”
AJ’s brother Curtis, who previously appeared on Love Island, drove the couple to the hospital, where Abbie was admitted to intensive care.
“Abbie was in agony and the brothers knew they had to get her to hospital straightaway to get her burns treated. It’s been an extremely difficult and testing time for them but she’s on the road to recovery,” the source explained.
“AJ and Abbie want to warn others about the dangers of trying to emulate these sorts of video at home. They don’t want anyone else to go through what Abbie has been through or to suffer.”
“It’s been an awful time as she’s worried about the future and her career as a dancer… She has been suffering in secret and been completely traumatised by this awful accident.”
“She kept off social media as she didn’t want people to know of her injuries. She is struggling to come to terms with it all but is grateful for AJ’s support. He has been her rock throughout this ordeal and has been giving her a positive outlook.”
