Tulisa Contostavlos became "dependent" on prescription drugs during the COVID lockdown
The 36-year-old singer revealed she began self medicating with sleeping pills to "numb the pain" after her dog got cancer but she feared she was "going to die" after she tried to quit
25 December 2024
Speaking on Paul C Brunson's 'We Need To Talk' podcast, she said: "I was dependent without knowing... I just went cold turkey for five days and I ended up in hospital because I didn't know, but my body had become dependent on it.
"I felt like I was having a heart attack. I had pains in my chest.... I just literally felt like I was going to die.
"Once I overcame that in January, I didn't know how much I had been affected by it and I started to feel alive again.
"I started to feel me, as a human. I was like, 'Oh my god, this is reality'. I couldn't determine anymore what was real and what wasn't in terms of my anxiety, my depression.
"I didn't know what was what. Then it takes so long for your body to get back to normal again and for your nervous system to recover."
Meanwhile, Tulisa also revealed she suffered anxiety attacks while in the Australian jungle for 'I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!'
She said: "Some of the things you didn't see, I had night terrors for the first four days. 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 and especially when I'm faced with adversity. 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.
"So as soon as I'm set with a task and I'm going in and jumping out of a plane, I'm going to look like a warrior, because that is what I do. I might sit and cry under the sleeping bag, that's also a part of who I am."
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