Tulisa Contostavlos has opened up about her struggles in the I’m A Celebrity jungle, revealing she suffered a secret anxiety attack and felt like she was “having a breakdown” before leaving Australia. In an emotional podcast interview, the 36 year old singer and former X Factor judge shares her honest account of her time in the jungle, which she had initially hoped would be a “healing journey” and “like therapy”.
However, the experience proved tougher than expected, and Tulisa admits she considered quitting the show. Speaking on on Paul C Brunson‘s We Need To Talk podcast, she recalled: “Some of the things you didn’t see, I had night terrors for the first four days. I was waking up out of my sleep, and I was having anxiety attacks. Those parts, not everyone knows, so it wasn’t completely smooth sailing for me at all, but I have a great poker face.”
(Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
(Image: E4/Married At First Sight UK)
Tulisa explained that she put on a brave face, saying: “I really can turn it on and especially when I’m faced with adversity. The last thing I wanted to do was go in there and be the hot mess. So if anything, I’m going to be the biggest soldier there is. So as soon as I’m set with a task and I’m going in and jumping out of a plane, I’m going to look like a warrior, because that is what I do. I might sit and cry under the sleeping bag, that’s also a part of who I am.”
Discussing the challenges she faced, Tulisa revealed: “I mean, I did cry on the VT at one point, but I definitely had an anxiety attack off-camera, because I went to the smoking area to do it and even then, I didn’t want them to know that I was having an anxiety attack, so I was trying to bring down my heart rate, literally through my nose.”
She continued, “I was like, ‘Okay, get the heart rate down. Get the heart rate down’. I wanted to leave that day. I was like, ‘I can’t do this but it’s not what I came here for. I came here to stick it out and do whatever I have to do’. And there were lots of amazing moments, really joyful moments, thanks to the people. The people made those moments,” reports the Mirror.
Tulisa, who now enjoys a quieter life in the countryside of Greater Manchester and generally keeps a low profile unless touring with N Dubz, opened up to podcaster Paul C Brunson about her recent years of being “dependent” on prescription sleeping pills, finally managing to quit them in January of this year.
(Image: ITV)
The memories of weaning herself off drugs like diazepam and coping with anxiety were still vivid when she joined the ITV reality series. Tulisa added, “I am a massive introvert. I was really getting a little bit overwhelmed in there, so I was probably the least around in camp.”
“I would go and remove myself and go for walks or go and hide in the dunny. I spent 90% of my time alone. The agoraphobia and being alone for so long, I got super overwhelmed being around so many people. They could see that, and they were really understanding about that. They had jokes like, ‘She’s gone to the Airbnb. She’ll be back.'”.
“You know, they’re like, What are you doing? I’m like, ‘Bro, I’ve just been staring at a palm tree. I just needed a minute’.”
(Image: Instagram)
“When I came out, I think actually the biggest thing that tipped me over the edge was introvert overload. I had pushed myself into doing this and I was ready to overcome all the fears and being in the spotlight, but being watched consistently, [for] so many hours a day, nowhere to hide, nowhere to run, feeling so exposed. Everyone can see me, and also this underlying fear – probably irrational – of being watched.”
After leaving the I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! camp, Tulisa opened up about why she didn’t stick around for the finale as per tradition. She deleted any mention of the show from her social profiles and immediately jetted back to the UK.
Speaking out for the first time about her post-show experience, Tulisa shared: “I did what I signed up for, but I came out, I processed, I was feeling the way I was feeling. There’s 11 other really happy campers there that are really happy to be there, happy to have the holiday and do it all with energy, with smiles, and you have someone that’s sat crying in their hotel room. In this current age that we live in, it’s like, ‘You want me to be there out of principle?
“When I’m having a breakdown right now? I need to go home and process this. If other people are not having the same experience as me, they haven’t had the same experiences in the past and they’re all current people that are doing radios or they’re on television. This is very much the norm for them’. This, for me, was a psychological experiment, for myself. ITV were brilliant and supported me knowing what I needed to do for myself.”
Tulisa is speaking on a two part special of the Paul C Brunson We Need To Talk podcast. The second part is released on Monday, the first part is out now.
View news Source: https://www.ok.co.uk/tv/tulisa-forced-flee-im-celebrity-34359291
