Why Tulisa's health condition could stop her doing I'm A Celeb trials
Former X Factor judge and one-third of N-Dubz, Tulisa Contostavlos, has a health condition which could prevent her from taking part in some of the challenges on this year's I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!.
Tulisa has been open about having a diagnosis of Bell's palsy, a condition which typically causes half of the face to become paralysed, which can prevent you from being able to properly close your eye or smile (amongst other challenges). The singer believes hers stems from a horse riding accident which injured her facial nerves, but has also said in a recent podcast interview with Olivia Attwood that she unfortunately has three facial cysts too.
"I have no idea what they were caused by, they weren't filler, they were just self-occurring, but I came out of [an] operation and instantly my face was less swollen," the singer said. "There's some still there so I still have the inflammation, but it's way less. In the next two months, he's going to go in to get those ones."
Speaking about her diagnosis back in 2020, Tulisa said during a Loose Women guest slot,"I do suffer from Bell's palsy [...] it can cause facial paralysis, it can cause swelling. I think the first attack I had was after a serious horse-riding accident. I fractured my skull and it caused a lot of nerve damage.
"At any time, I have emergency steroids on me, and now luckily I know how to manage it, so the attacks don't last as long. There have actually been times when people have criticised me for the way I look and my face, not knowing I'm actually going through a Bell's palsy attack."
Catriona Neville, an NHS specialist in facial palsy who is on the medical advisory board of Facial Palsy UK, told Cosmopolitan UK that celebrities like Tulisa speaking openly about the condition can be a huge game-changer for those living with Bell's palsy, or any other form of facial paralysis. She also shed some light on why Bell's palsy might prevent the star from doing some of the trials.
"Because facial palsy can make it harder to close your eyes, eat, drink and make a seal with your lips it may not be safe for Tulisa to take part in some of the I'm A Celebrity trials," Neville further explained. "In particular, it would be important that she avoid anything that might cause damage to her eye as she may not be able to protect it by blinking or tightly closing it to stop water getting into it like most people can."
The specialist added, "When celebrities speak out about their experience with facial palsy it raises vital awareness. This can help people who already have, or go on to develop facial palsy better understand what to do and where to get high quality care.
"Facial palsy is rare so most people never meet someone else with facial palsy unless they go to a specialist support group. Hearing about celebrities going through the same struggles stops people feeling isolated and alone. For people who might have lost hope or even stopped leaving the house, this might be the lifeline they need to finally get help [...] The more we can imagine what other people are going through, the more we can empathise with them and support in making the world a kinder place."
Tulisa won't be the first person in the jungle with the condition either; former winner Scarlett Moffatt also has Bell's palsy and saw herself unable to take part in some Bushtucker Trials where her health could be compromised.
Speaking about her experience of Bell's palsy, Scarlett previously said, "I have to sleep with a little eye mask and my mouth still goes to the side when I talk, although people don't really notice. Sometimes if I'm tired, my left eye feels a little bit twitchy, but I don't get pain or slur my words. I don't feel sorry for myself, as there are so many worse afflictions people can get."
Learn more about facial palsy and the support on offer at Facial Palsy UK
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