ITV I'm A Celeb star Tulisa Contostavlos' ex speaks out on her changing face amid heath battles
Tulisa Contostavlos' ex and N-Dubz bandmate Fazer has hailed her as an "inspiration to Britain's women" for her battle with Bell's palsy. The 36 year old singer underwent cosmetic surgery to address the condition, which results in facial paralysis.
Despite some I'm A Celeb viewers making cruel comments about her appearance, Tulisa's friends have rallied around her in support. Speaking to The Sun, Fazer, 37, expressed his admiration for her bravery.
He said: "It was heartbreaking to see. At one point, T won FHM's Sexiest Woman. You've got to think, from that to having Bell's palsy and trying to fix it ... it's a lot. It's a lot for any female.
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"That's why I feel like the public should be behind T and say, you know what, she's one of our own, and she's been through it."
Bell's palsy is temporary weakness or lack of movement affecting one side of the face due to a dysfunction of the facial nerve, according to the NHS. Speaking on Olivia Attwood's So Wrong, It's Right podcast, Tulisa opened up about her first ever Bell's Palsy attack, saying: "When I was about 24, I had my first Bell's Palsy attack.
"So I sat at home and I had a massive burst of inflammation and it went down but my whole face dropped – eye, everything. I couldn't move it, my face remained like that for seven months, I didn't go out, I just hid in the house."
The 36-year-old continued: "As I was coming to the end of the seven months, my face is still not right… I would go and get fillers to try and balance out the symmetry. So I’d be like right, if you put some in that cheek to match the swelling on that cheek and then if you put some here to lift this up so my lip isn’t down there."
"It was scary, and then what happened was because I had this low-level swelling, I then dissolved all the filler and I would match the inflammation by putting filler in the other side.
"So you have this side swollen and this side is filler to match to the swelling. This went up all the way up until this year, so even when I was doing the N-Dubz run, it was at its worst, I constantly felt like my cheek was on fire.
"I had good days and bad days and I’d also on some days take steroids which would bring it down, so you might see an interview and I look normal and then you see another interview and it’s like ‘what the hell is going on with her face’."