Tulisa left 'tearing into her face and created gaping weeping holes' over health battle

N-Dubz singer and former X Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos previously opened up on her health battle that left her picking at her face every day for years

Tulisa Contostavlos revealed her secret 12-year health battle before I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.

The N-Dubz singer is competing in this year's series of the ITV show in the Australian jungle. Viewers have shared their excitement of her being back on screens once again after taking a hiatus following her role as a X Factor judge. She sparked a huge reaction with her new look as she got her lips and eyebrows tattooed before the show.

Tulisa also topped up her lip filler and eyelash extensions. Her pal Rylan fired back at those leaving negative comments on her appearance as he said: "Also before people start going for appearance, Tulisa has been through a lot health wise the last few years so let’s not make s**t jokes about her on twitter yeah x."

The singer was diagnosed with Bell's palsy in 2020, which is a neurological disorder that causes paralysis or weakness on one side of the face when the facial nerve is damaged or stops working properly. She had her first attack when she was 24 and had also been diagnosed with dermatillomania years before.

Writing in her book Honest: My Story So Far in 2012, Tulisa described how she would self-harm by "tearing into her face" with nail clippers. Dermatillomania, also known as skin picking disorder, is where you cannot stop picking at your skin, according to the NHS. The condition can be triggered by stress or anxiety.

Tulisa previously said she had anxiety that was caused by her mother's schizoaffective disorder - a mix of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. "My frustration and depression at that point in my life led to the formation of some strange and damaging habits that stretched right into my adult life," she wrote.

The singer's skin picking worsened over time and continued into her time with N-Dubz. It flared up whenever she felt pressured or anxious, or went to stay with her mother again. Tulisa shared: "Picking at my face was my way of zoning out, I guess, and sometimes I would go into the bathroom and just pick at my skin for hours, not realising that I'd developed an anxiety disorder of my own: dermatillomania.

"As far as I was concerned, it was just something I did to get away from my mum, but it got so bad that eventually I was tearing into my face with nail clippers and tweezers, just to get at any minute blemish or invisible little bump under my skin." She confessed to picking her skin almost every day for years.

Before her jungle debut last week, Tulisa also spoke about having Bell's Palsy while appearing on Olivia Attwood's So Wrong It’s Right podcast. She revealed: "When I was about 24, I had my first Bell's Palsy attack. So I sat at home, and I had a massive burst of inflammation, and it went down, but my whole face dropped – eye, everything. I couldn't move it; my face remained like that for seven months; I didn't go out; I just hid in the house."

Bell's Palsy occurs when there is a temporary weakness or lack of movement affecting one side of the face. Symptoms can include, weakness on one side of the face, a drooping eyelid or drooping in corner of the mouth.

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