Former TOWIE star Ferne, 27, was reportedly ‘shocked and upset’ by the bizarre mistake, which saw a picture of her then-newborn daughter Sunday displayed on the lunchtime bulletin.
And she reportedly had her people contact the station to demand that the snap be removed with immediate effect.
The picture used by the programme was taken from Ferne’s Instagram page. The star had uploaded it back in November to announce the birth of her daughter, whose father, Arthur Collins, is serving time in prison for an acid attack at a nightclub in East London.
She’d captioned it. “Wellcome to the world my darling. Didn’t expect to see you a week early. I’m so in love & bursting with pride. It’s a girl.”
Sunday’s face is not seen in the shot, but The Sun Online reported that the This Morning presenter was incensed.
A source told the news website: “Any mother would be upset to learn an image of their child had been used without consent.
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“What makes it even worse was that it was used in connection with such an upsetting and tragic topic.”
Thankfully, ITV News acted fast to remove the offending picture, with a spokesman telling The Mirror Online: “[We] took swift action as soon as we were notified by Ferne’s team of the error.
“We’re sorry if any upset was caused to Ferne and her family.”
Earlier this month, Ferne was forced to explain herself after she promoted Charlotte Crosby’s new MTV reality show on social media.
The Charlotte Show airs at the same time as Ferne’s TOWIE pals Billie and Sam Faiers’ programme The Mummy Diaries, leading Billie’s fiance Greg Shepherd to reply to Ferne’s tweet with a terse “Wow!!”
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Ferne responded: “I tweeted for @Charlottegshore show because she asked me to. Simple… There was no malice, no calculated move. That’s it.
“@BillieFaiers & @Gregshepherd_ you know I love you both & will always support you. This just all seems so silly.”
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