I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! made Tulisa Contostavlos a stronger person
Tulisa Contostavlos took part in the 2024 series of I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! and she said the experience has made her a stronger person.
Tulisa Contostavlos feels stronger after appearing on I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! last year.
The 37-year-old singer took part in the 2024 series of the ITV survival show and she made the decision to go into the jungle to prove to herself that she could overcome her fears and phobias.
She explained in The i Paper: "I felt like I was getting fragile in my older years. And I was like, 'I've got to toughen up.'
"[It was an opportunity] to go, 'F*** it,' and overcome this massive fear."
N-Dubz group member Tulisa was frank, honest and a grafter during her time on I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! and earned new fans amongst the British public.
But the pop star thinks she would have been an attention-seeker if she did the ITV show at the age of 22.
Tulisa explained: "If I had done it when I was 22, I'd have done everything in my power to play up to the cameras, play the audience like a fiddle, and win.
"But that would have grated on my soul.
"'You're still seeking validation after everything you've learned?'"
The former X Factor judge was the third campmate to be voted out of I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! and she felt a lot of love from some unlikely people when she got home to the UK.
She said: "I had had a lot of hate from maybe a lot of certain upper-class people or middle-class people that would look down on me a bit, or people who had read too many news stories, who had believed the portrayal of me as maybe a slightly aggressive woman.
"[The jungle showed] more of a gist of my character ... People who would snub their nose up were showing me love."
Tulisa removed all of her Instagram posts about I'm A Celebrity ...Get Me Out Of Here!, and failed to appear on the programme's spin-off show, I'm A Celebrity... Unpacked.
This was because Tulisa felt "overwhelmed" by the attention she received from doing the programme, which is presented by Ant and Dec.
She said in an Instagram video posted in December 2024: "I was getting a lot of attention, a lot of bombarding - in all the most positive way, but because it's been a bit of a while for me, I can get overwhelmed quite easily, and I just started to feel a little bit overwhelmed.
"And I was like, do you know what? I need to just take a little bit of time for me and just chill. This is all just feeling a bit much at the moment.
"I've archived all my stuff to do with the jungle, and then, when the time is right and I've had time to process, I'm going to make my own reels of my best bits that I really like.
"Because remember, I haven't been doing my own stuff. The way it's being posted and all the random stuff is not how I would be doing stuff."
She continued: "It's OK to feel a bit overwhelmed, I've been out of the spotlight for a long time, and I'm still trying to overcome those things.
"You know, I've still got my little demons. Doesn't mean I'm going to go and hide under a rock for another 10 years. It just means I need a little bit of time to just process and you know, get right with my thoughts.
"Thank you to ITV and I'm A Celeb for being really understanding and patient with me, and you know, mental health is important, and I am super grateful for all the love and support I've had.
"I just get overwhelmed, I'm a bit of an introvert. I've been in a jungle with people I'd only just met for two and half weeks, and then I've come out, and I've seen loads of attention and I'm like, 'Woah this is a lot.' And I just need a little bit of a breather."
