D uring her time as a judge on The X Factor , Tulisa Contostavlos developed a signature move. At the beginning of every episode, the pop star would raise her right arm across her chest and show off three words inked in italics on her forearm: The Female Boss . More than a decade’s worth of hindsight has afforded fans a new perspective on that tattoo.
Yes, it was very corny, but it turned out to also be very apt. The singer, who rose to fame as one-third of the hip-hop group N-Dubz , is entering the I’m a Celeb jungle this week already a survivor of sorts. When she was 26, Tulisa said she felt as though she’d clocked 60 years of life experience – a good chunk of those not positive.
The highlights (or lowlights rather) being: the lurid leaking of a sex tape, a drug sting operation by a tabloid, and of course, the good old-fashioned misogyny and classism inherent to being a working-class woman in the public eye. Eating a platter of raw fisheyes? It’ll be a cakewalk in comparison. Growing up in a one-bedroom council flat in Camden, Tulisa has said she was a “lost and unhappy young girl”.
Her mother suffered from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, putting her in the position of having to be her own parent. (Her father left home when she was nine.) At school, Tulisa was bullied by classmates; at home, she was a full-time carer for her mum.
The situation was so distressing she self-harmed as a way to cope. When Tulisa was very young, she attempted suicide. “I couldn.