Tulisa’s secret health battle confession
The singer has bravely spoken out about her health condition after cruel trolls attacked her appearance
Former N-Dubz singer Tulisa Contostavlos last week revealed she’d been silently suffering from a condition called Bell’s palsy, which causes temporary paralysis and drooping on one side of the face.
Hitting back at trolls who had often heartlessly targeted her over her appearance – with one even likening her to a stroke victim – Tulisa,
31, told Loose Women viewers how she developed symptoms after sustaining nerve damage from a horse riding accident.
She confessed, “There’s been times people have criticised the way I look and my face, not knowing I’m going through a Bell’s palsy attack.
“Someone online said I looked like I was having a stroke.
“I have emergency steroids on me and I know how to handle it. If you have steroids within a 72-hour period, it can last days instead of seven months, which happened to me the first time. I was hiding in the house.”
Revealing the devastating effects of online abuse, she continued, “I just think it’s such a big issue with this current generation. It’s not just celebrities. It’s young people going through it.
“I had people referencing my uncle’s death, my mother’s mental illness, loads of threats. The lowest of the lows.”
DRUGS
Since enjoying chart success as one third of the Camden-born hip-hop group from 2007 to 2011, and being dubbed “the nation’s new sweetheart” when she replaced Cheryl as a judge on The X Factor in 2011, Tulisa has endured a roller coaster ride.
In 2013, she became the victim of a tabloid sting and was arrested on suspicion of supplying class A drugs. The trial sensationally collapsed when the judge ruled the reporter who’d conducted the investigation tampered with evidence – but it was Tulisa’s face that made the most headlines as she appeared outside the court room with worryingly swollen lips and taut skin.
Fans again cruelly mocked her dramatically altered appearance, labelling her “unrecognisable” when she returned to the spotlight on Good Morning Britain last year to promote her new solo album.
ADDICTED
Despite initially denying she’d had surgery, she later confessed to TV host Lorraine that she became addicted to fillers and likened herself to Finding Nemo after suffering an allergic reaction – puffing up her lips to the camera as she impersonated the Disney clownfish character.
After Lorraine told her, “You don’t even need it – you’re beautiful!”, she replied, “I’m happy now. I still have little bits of filler in my lips and I get lots of treatments and skincare. It’s all about maintaining.”
SOMEONE ONLINE SAID I LOOKED LIKE I WAS HAVING A STROKE