Tulisa has broken her silence in her first press interview since her exit from I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
The 36-year-old sparked concern earlier this month when she quickly fled Australia after becoming the third celeb to be voted out of the jungle.
The N-Dubz singer missed the show’s final, and also raised eyebrows by deleting all traces of her time on the show from her Instagram feed.
During a new interview with The Guardian, Tulisa explained what happened when she left the show.
“I came out, still followed by cameras, all t**s and teeth, and it wasn’t until I was on my own that I felt this introvert-overload,” she confessed.
“I was hyperventilating, crying. It was too much.”
Tulisa said she wasn’t sure if the “fear” came from being in the spotlight, or whether she no longer wanted fame.
Tulisa has largely remained out of the spotlight since her time as a judge on The X Factor over ten years ago.
While she’s since made a comeback, the 36-year-old has admitted her past traumas made her hesitant to return to the limelight.
She said: “I had a lot of fear surrounding exposure and I got to the point where I thought: ‘Am I holding on to this fear because of what people have done to me in the past? Am I letting other people change my perception of what my career is and could be?’ I didn’t want to feel that way any more.”
Back in 2013, Tulisa was subject to an elaborate sting operation which ruined her career prospects.
Mazher Mahmood, also known as the Fake Sheik, a former journalist for the Sun on Sunday was jailed for 15 months for perverting the course of justice after he tricked Tulisa into buying cocaine for him while he posed as a film producer.
However, it was the sex tape her ex Justin Edwards posted of her in 2012 that traumatised her the most.
Tulisa said: “It’s had the most long-term effects. It has really affected my love life and my intimacy… I feel so much shame surrounding it that my relationship to sex doesn’t feel the same.”
Tulisa later sued her ex for leaking the footage, and settled in court.
During her time in the jungle, Tulisa revealed she has been celibate for three years, and came out as demisexual.
Demisexuality is a sexual orientation where a person only experiences sexual attraction after forming a strong emotional connection with someone.
Tulisa shared with her campmates: “I’ve kind of always been that way. But me being that kind of person, and then having the experiences I’ve had, has put me so far back into my shell.”
“I only deal with people I already know. I’ve just recycled ex-boyfriends for the past 10 years. A new person coming in doesn’t have a chance.”
