Way before I’m A Celeb, here’s the gutting reason why Tulisa quit The X Factor judging panel

Tulisa Contostavlos was on top of the world when she “manifested” her dream job: A spot on The X Factor judging panel. She was 22 years old when she said she demanded the job from Simon Cowell in his own home, telling him that if he didn’t give her a spot as a judge on then he “would be making the biggest mistake of his life”. Tulisa had made a name for herself in N-Dubz, but by the time she got her dream job on The X Factor she was yet to even launch her solo career. After just two years, Tulisa quit the role on The X Factor and has largely been out of the limelight til she returned to our screens on I’m A Celeb in 2024.

With us all realising how genuine and authentic she is, and how much better telly is with her on it – here’s in her own words why Tulisa quit The X Factor now she’s back on our screens in the I’m A Celeb jungle.

Tulisa was the victim of her ex leaking a sex tape

During the height of her time in the spotlight, Tulisa was hit by the awful news of her ex Justin Edwards leaking a sex tape of them being intimate together when they were a couple a decade prior. At the time, Tulisa addressed it in a YouTube video and said “When you share an intimate moment with someone that you love, you care about and you trust, you never imagine for one minute that that footage may at any point be shared with the rest of the UK or the rest of the people around the world.”

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A year later, Tulisa was involved in a sting operation where a reporter from The Sun on Sunday alleged she fixed up a drug deal for him. The case got thrown out, and the reporter was found guilty of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

“I’d been blacklisted from everywhere, I couldn’t f***ing do music, I just had to ride it out,” Tulisa later told The Guardian. “But I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing, so I thought I’ll use this time to write, and then even if I go to prison, I can still make money out of a book.”

Tulisa opened up more about leaving The X Factor on a podcast

@happyplaceofficial “Things got nasty” @tulisa_contostavlos shares her X Factor experience #tulisa #tulisacontostavlos #xfactor #thexfactor ♬ original sound – Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place

Speaking to Fearne Cotton on her Happy Place podcast in October, Tulisa opened up saying “At first, I’d manifested that job. I sat down on the sofa next to my mate and said ‘I want that job, I’m getting that job one day’. So when it happened, I’d done it, I was happy I was thriving. I’d achieved another goal.

“And then things just got nasty. They took a turn. Probably around the time of the tape, that’s when things just changed for me. I felt a difference in the energy and how the press were towards me and the general public. And that’s when the years of that kind of poking the bear really started to sink in. and I started to feel more negative about the process.

“It just started to get to me. It was too much. I felt too much pressure, too judged by everyone. I’m a very sensitive individual; emotionally I’m like a sponge. So, I could feel the dislike from people, I could feel the hate from people. It made me feel very alone, very depressed. I just felt like this isn’t the life I want to live.

“So even though [The X Factor] didn’t bring me back, I’d already said I wasn’t going back. Because if I was going to choose between success and my sanity – I was going to choose my sanity.”

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