Ten years after she was a judge on The X Factor, Tulisa made her TV comeback in the I’m A Celeb jungle.
The singer shot to fame as a member of N-Dubz in 2008 alongside her cousin Dappy and his pal Fazer.
The trio went on to sell 1.3million albums before they split in 2011 to pursue solo projects.
Throughout her career in the spotlight, Tulisa has been open about her turbulent relationship with her mother Anne Bryne.
The star was born in Churchtown, County Dublin to her Irish mother and a Greek Cypriot father, Plato Contostavlos.
Anne dealt with mental health struggles during the singer’s childhood after she was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder 17 years ago.
Tulisa and her mum during her younger years lived in a one-bedroom council flat in North London – where the name N-Buz originated from.
In her autobiography Honest, Tulisa opened up about her relationship with her mother: “Mum was obsessive about locking our front door, and it was always locked from the inside with the keys still hanging in the door.”
“One morning I noticed that although the key was in the lock, it hadn’t been turned, and the door was actually unlocked.”
“Knowing that my mum would freak out and feel vulnerable if she spotted it, I turned the key and locked it myself.”
“Within seconds my mum, hearing the jangle of the keys, came tearing out into the hall, screaming at me hysterically.”
“I guess she thought I was trying to open the door and panicked, but went completely off the deep end, accusing me of wanting to make her ill, or even kill her, and it went on and on.”
“Incidents like this were a regular occurrence in our house, along with temper tantrums and mood swings.”
In the BBC documentary Tulisa: My Mum and Me, the N-Dubz star discussed her mother’s diagnosis.
Her mother had developed schizoaffective disorder – a disorder which involves symptoms of both schizophrenia and either bipolar disorder or depression.
She confessed: “One of the worst things about dealing with my mum was how helpless and alone I felt at such a vulnerable age.”
“The doctors didn’t seem to be able to stabilise my mother’s moods and I felt myself being dragged further and further down by the environment I was forced to live in.”
“Music and my dream of becoming a success was all that kept me going through those very dark times.”
Tulisa continued: “My dad left home and it triggered one of her episodes.”
“One minute she’d look all mournful as if someone had died, the next she’d be angry and aggressive, smashing cupboards and shouting.”
“Inevitably, she went into hospital again and I stayed with my mum’s older sister, Louise. She had children of her own and it was felt she was more able to look after a young girl.
“I used to dread my mum getting better and coming home because it would mean I’d have to leave my aunt’s house where I felt safe and happy and normal.”
However, despite the struggles, Tulisa and her mother have still kept in contact and maintained their relationship over the years.
The same year N-Dubz split, Tulisa received a huge boost when Simon Cowell recruited her to replace Cheryl Cole as a judge for the eighth series of The X Factor.
The singer was just 23 at the time, making her the youngest ever judge on the panel alongside Gary Barlow, Louis Walsh and Nicole Scherzinger.
In her first year on the show, Tulisa mentored the Groups category and went on to win the series with girlband Little Mix.
Tulisa ended up leaving the show after two years and largely remained out of the spotlight until May 2022 – when N-Dubz reunited.
11 years after they parted ways, the group reformed for a sell-out UK arena tour.
The following year, the trio released their fourth studio album Timeless.
Now, Tulisa has joined the latest season of I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!
