ITV I’m A Celebrity’s Tulisa reveals pain of 'year from hell' after drug scandal

N-Dubz singer and former X Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos decided to step away from the spotlight after her drug scandal in 2013 as she prepares to return for I'm A Celebrity

Tulisa Contostavlos is set to make her huge TV comeback as she joins I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.

The former X Factor judge, 36, has kept out of the spotlight in recent years despite having once mentored Little Mix on the ITV singing competition in 2011. She hasn't released music on her own since 2019 and her first, and currently only, solo album came out back in 2012.

However, she reunited with N-Dubz bandmates Dappy and Fazer back in 2022 following an 11-year hiatus and released their most recent album, Timeless, last year. Tulisa has insisted her stint on I'm A Celebrity isn't a career move for her and that she wants to show her "true, authentic self" to viewers.

Despite her huge success, Tulisa was subject to a "year from hell" at the height of her fame in 2013. Her world came crashing down when a sex tape featuring her with ex Justin Edwards was leaked online. A year later, Tulisa faced another scandal - when she was arrested for allegedly supplying £800 worth of cocaine.

Undercover News of the World reporter Mazher Mahmood - also known as the Fake Sheik - had set her up by posing as a wealthy film producer who wanted her to star in a Hollywood blockbuster. He claimed Tulisa arranged for him to be sold half an ounce of the drug via one of her contacts in 2013 and later handed the evidence into police.

The case did go to court, but Tulisa's trial sensationally collapsed after Mahmood was accused of tampering with evidence and lying in the witness box. He was later tried on related charges and sentenced to 15 months behind bars. Tulisa - who always said she was innocent - recently reflected on the challenging year.

She said on Fearne Cotton's Happy Place podcast: "That year, I call my year of enlightenment. There is nothing like it, you can't buy life experience like that. It was completely unexpected." She added: "I thought at the time, nothing much could shock me. I had seen it all. The deceit that people could commit and the lies to be told. But when that happened, I was like 'wow, this is next level'. Ups and downs throughout that year.

"I have always been very spiritual but the spiritual side of me if what's kept me going. There were days when I would be on that bathroom floor crying my eyes out and having nervous breakdowns, thinking about doing the worst things possible. But I didn't have a choice, you just have to keep going and you keep fighting or you drop. I just chose to keep fighting through it."

Trying to sum up that time of her life, Tulisa explained: "It's very hard to describe the experience and the character traits you could say it has given me. Ultimately, at this point I do see it as a blessing because it was after that year that I began the journey of finding my peace."

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