I'm A Celebrity star Tulisa has opened up on her secret health battle after being voted off the hit show earlier this month and fleeing Australia in the aftermath
ITV's I'm A Celebrity sensation Tulisa has courageously shared a health struggle that prompted her to dash out of Australia following her departure from the jungle. The star didn't linger Down Under after being booted off the show earlier this month – perhaps eager to get back home to her new career path.
Now, Tulisa has opened up about the secret health woes that made her bolt from I'm A Celeb and skip the wrap party in a state of hyperventilation and tears. The 36-year-old singer hopped on a plane home just days after her eviction, wiping her Instagram clean of her jungle stint, as rumours of a feud with her best friends emerged.
In a candid chat on Paul C Brunson's We Need To Talk podcast, Tulisa confessed she found it tough to gel with the "happy campers" and disclosed: "Some of the things you didn't see - I had night terrors for the first four days."
She continued, revealing the unseen struggles: "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. I really can turn it on, especially when I'm faced with adversity."
Tulisa further explained her coping mechanism: "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. As soon as I'm set with a task - jumping out of a plane, for example - I'm going to look like a warrior, because that's what I do. I might sit and cry under the sleeping bag-that's also a part of who I am," reports Birmingham Live.
Recalling the moment she almost lost control, Tulisa said: "I definitely had an anxiety attack off-camera. I went to the smoking area to do it because I didn't want them to know. I was trying to bring down my heart rate, literally through my nose. I kept telling myself, 'Get the heart rate down. Get the heart rate down.'" She wanted to leave that day, feeling overwhelmed, but forced herself to persevere, saying: "I wanted to leave that day. I thought, 'I can't do this,' but I reminded myself that I was there to stick it out."
Tulisa revealed she retreated to her hotel room in tears, feeling lonely and disconnected while her fellow campmates celebrated. She said: "I was sat crying in my hotel room while everyone else were 'happy campers,' excited to be there. I just needed to go home and process everything."
Tulisa compared the experience to a psychological experiment, stating: "For others, it's normal - they're on the radio or television all the time. For me, it felt like a psychological experiment."
To recover, Tulisa took drastic measures, saying: "I just sat in bed for four days - a phone detox, a social media detox. My inner circle understood and told others, 'She's recharging.'" However, her abrupt withdrawal from her previous habits took a toll on her body, and she ended up in the hospital.
She revealed: "I just went cold turkey for five days, and I ended up in hospital. I felt like I was having a heart attack, pains in my chest. I thought I was going to die."
But after a few weeks of recovery, Tulisa finally feels rejuvenated, saying: "It took so long for my body to get back to normal and for my nervous system to recover. But now, I feel alive again. I've rediscovered myself as a person."
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