Tulisa, 36, reveals how her face changed after 12-year health battle (2024)

TulisaContostavlos recently revealed how an agonising 12-year health battle with Bell's palsy changed her appearance.

The N-Dubz star, 36, returned to screens on Sunday with the launch of I'm A Celebrity, showing off a new look that sparked reaction from viewers.

Her pal Rylan was quick to get ahead of any negative remarks that could come her way, taking to X/Twitter to share: 'Also before people start going for appearance, Tulisa has been through a lot health wise the last few years so let’s not make s**t jokes about her on twitter yeah x. (sic)'

Tulisa opted for a pre-Jungle makeover, getting her lips and eyebrows tattooed and topping up her lip filler and opting for long eyelash extensions.

Yet while she was looking glamorous Down Under, she recently opened up about a health battle that left her in 'horrific' pain and fearing for her face.

The singerwas diagnosed with Bell's palsy in 2020 -a neurological disorder that causes paralysis or weakness on one side of the face when the facial nerve is damaged or stops working properly.

Yet she soon became locked in a vicious cycle of having filler to even out her appearance and her face becominginflamed and swollen.

Speaking onOlivia Attwood's podcast So Wrong It's Right this month, Tulisa admittedthe problems were particularly bad around the time she reformed with the trio in 2022, ending their 11-year hiatus from the music scene with a new tour and single release.

A doctor soon got to the cause after performing an ultrasound on her face, finding 'three chronically infected cysts' in her cheek, one of which popped during an 'explorative operation' due to being so bulbous.

Tulisa shared: 'I've no idea what they were caused by, they weren't filler, they were just self-occurring, but I came out of the operation and instantly my face was less swollen.

She added that after having her first Bell's palsy attack aged 24, she attempted to use fillers to 'balance out' her face, causing her to be locked in a 'vicious cycle.'

Two years passed where the condition was kept at bay, but she started to feel a 'low level swelling' in the same cheek, which rapidly increased.

She explained: 'I would have like tingling sensations like little ants crawling in my face. I started seeing doctors all around the UK – "Something's wrong with me, what's wrong with my face" – it was so scary. This went all the way up until this year it was horrific.

'I constantly felt like my cheek was on fire. I'd have good days and bad days and on some days, I'd take steroids, which would bring it down.

'When I was doing that N-Dubz run it was at its worst, so you might see an interview, I look normal. And then you see another interview, it's like, what the hell is going on with my face?'

Tulisa also shared her belief that the painful cysts had contributed to a long list of medical concerns she has battled with for years such as sarcoidosis and immune disorders.

She shared:'I've had all these health problems for years – sarcoidosis, immune disorders and this explains all the symptoms that I was getting and could have been causing Bell's palsy because in total there was, I think, six of them. They could have been growing over the years, actually triggering the Bell's.'

After years of experimenting, Tulisa said she made the decision to remove the filler from her face and now only uses it in her lips.

She added: 'Right now, I only have filler in my lips. There's no filler anywhere else in my face.'

Tulisa has always been open about having lip filler and previously joked about her famous trout pout disaster.

The Young hitmaker raised eyebrows when she showed off an extremely plump pout back in 2014 - leading fans to comment on her rapidly changing face.

Reflecting on the incident, the star said on Lorraine: 'I went through stages, I had an allergic reaction to something, and then it took me a while to get rid of it.

'I still get fillers in my lips, so it's all about maintaining. I'm happy with it now. That's where you're giving yourself a spruce.'

Elsewhere in the podcast, Tulisa revealed her plans to get 'fat transfer' in the future to help bring down the bruising in her face which makes her 'paranoid'.

She explained:'I have noticed that where I have been having so many steroid injections into this cheek when it would blow up because of the inflammation.

'As the swelling is going down, I am left with a lot of indentation in this cheek. I've covered it with makeup, it does make me really paranoid. I hate it, no one likes having dents in their cheek or discolouration or things wrong with their face.

'But I will take a bit [of makeup] off so you can see it. It's literally like a bruise, this is the indentation.

'One of the more permanent things you can do is get a fat transfer, which I will do in the future, when I've got time but for now what I'm going to do is a treatment called profhilo.'

A surgical fat transfer is cosmetic surgery to move fat from one part of the body to another. It's also known as a "fat graft" or "lipomodelling".

Ahead of getting the fat transfer, Tulisa revealed she's undergoing profhilo treatment to bring down the bruising.

Treatment with Profhilo improves skin tone, texture, hydration and overall radiance. It can help to increase firmness and elasticity and promote healthier and softer-looking skin.

Prior to entering the Jungle, Tulisa gave fans a look at her body transformation as she shared hergrueling workout routine on Instagram.

Tulisa was seen throwing herself into intense weight training and boxing after undergoing a double hernia operation in July.

In an Instagram post she donned a waist trainer as she lifted weights on the leg press machine and performed lunges, leg extensions and chest presses.

Tulisa penned: 'Really enjoying my boxing & fitness training at @ubxalderley. Double the the training right now. I feel like I’m getting a little better each day. This is officially not a faze! I’m sticking with it this time for sure.'

She has reportedly been practicing yoga 21 times a day whileusing the Tibetan Rites programme, an ancient form of yoga which requires multiple sessions to be completed each day.

The X Factor starhas also completed a course of Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide (NAD+) jabs which claim to boost your energy levels.

A source told The Sun: 'Tulisa was determined to look and feel her best before going into the jungle.

'She's been doing Tibetan Rites at home and also sessions with a personal trainer in the gym including boxing.

'Tulisa has also had her lip liner tattooed on as she knows she will be going makeup free for a good few weeks.'

As Tulisa was confirmed for the 2024 series of I'm A Celebrity she stoodout from the star-studded group as she showed off her chiselled abs in a blue crop top for her first official snap.

Yet despite being in incredible shape, Tulisa has insisted she won't be attempting to recreate Myleene Klass' iconic jungle shower moment during her time in camp.

Myleene famously set pulses racing on the show in 2006 by showing off her svelte figure in a skimpy white two-piece in the shower.

But Tulisa declared she wanted the 'polar opposite', saying: 'I am wearing black. I am going to pack three plain bikinis, as I don't want to draw attention to myself.

'I am not going to step out in white. It will be the polar opposite and if someone can hold up a towel then I will (ask them!).'

The former X Factor judge went on to admit that she reckons the first few days in camp will be the hardest for her, as she has been avoiding the spotlight out of 'irrational fear'.

She confessed: 'I'm a big softie and I'm an emotional person. I will probably struggle in the first few days as doing something like this is a big deal for me.

'I haven't been thrust this much into the spotlight in a while and I have avoided it out of irrational fear. I will probably be the most emotional when I first go in. It will take me a while to settle in, but I know I will get past that.'

But Tulisa explained that despite her fear, she has decided to enter the jungle in the hopes of changing public perceptions of her.

She said she hoped the show would allow people to finally find out more about the real her and finally felt ready to push herself beyond her 'comfort zone'.

She explained: 'I am not the person people perceive me to be and this will be the chance for everyone to get to know the real me.

'I am like Frodo Baggins on an unexpected journey. I feel really adventurous this year and the place I am now in, I want to do things that take me out of my comfort zone.

'I have always said I wouldn't do this show in the past, as there are things that have terrified me. But the person I am now, I want to throw caution to the wind.'

Tulisa rose to fame in the mid-2000s with London hip-hop group, N-Dubz, achieving huge success with two platinum-certified albums and eight top 40 tracks, including hits No Regrets, Say It's Over, Number 1 and Playing With Fire.

She eventually parted ways with them in 2011, going on to land the coveted role of X-Factor judge at the age of 22 and remains the youngest judge in the show's history.

She was hired by Simon Cowell to replace Cheryl Cole and guided Little Mix to victory, who have gone on to become one of the most successful girl groups in history.

However, her X-Factor success was tainted by scandal as a sex tape featuring the star emerged online, leaked by her ex-boyfriend which she has since said made her feel like her 'world was ending'.

After quitting the X-Factor in 2013, Tulisa was caught up in a drugs scandal when she was arrested on suspicion of supplying class-A drugs.

But it was, in fact, part of a sting operation by the News of the World's notorious undercover reporter, Mazher Mahmood, otherwise known as the Fake Sheik.

The case went to court, but Mahmood was accused of tampering with evidence and the case against Tulisa collapsed, while he was later tried on related charges and sentenced to 15 months in prison.

During her BBC3 documentary filmed during her trial, Tulisa revealed she had been left with thoughts of taking her own life and 'necked pain killers with vodka'.

A year later, she was convicted of assault and ordered to pay a £3,000 fine after attacking blogger and TOWIE star, Vas J Morgan, in a row at V-Festival in Essex in 2013.

And in 2016 she pled guilty to drink driving and handed a 15-month ban after crashing her £150,000 Ferrari in north London.