Ashley: ‘It led to relationship stress and body dysmorphia’
Thrown into the spotlight after joining the cast of Made In Chelsea in 2013, Ashley James now admits that what she thought would be the best time of her life became the hardest.
“It led to issues with finances, self-confidence, body dysmorphia, and relationship stress – just everything,” she admits. “I guess it was like this glamorous world I was entering into, and it was actually the beginning of one of the hardest times of my life. It was something that I thought would be such a life-changer, in that it would bring me everything I’d ever hoped for in terms of positivity and money and fame, and all the things that I thought would make me happy.”
Earlier this year, model Ashley opened up about how lockdown had made her “body dysmorphia start crawling back in again”, and admitted that she used to post pictures of herself to seek approval. “I needed people to ‘like’ what they saw because I needed that validation,” she said.
Her love life has also been the subject of public speculation after a short relationship with Britain’s Got Talent judge David Walliams in 2015, followed by a threemonth romance with singer Ginuwine, whom she met in the CBB house in 2018.
Now loved-up with her boyfriend of almost a year, tech professional Tom Andrews, the couple are expecting their first child together in January.
She says, “It sounds weird, but growing a life has really helped me with the grieving process. It feels really nice to look forward to a new beginning.”