WITH an adoring fanbase, endless compliments and special treatment wherever they go, it’s easy to see why fame can go to some stars’ heads.
Now Vicky Pattison has revealed her behaviour was “awful” after winning over the nation and being crowned Queen of the Jungle in 2015.
Vicky Pattison has revealed her behaviour was ‘awful’ after winning I’m A Celebrity in 2015Credit: OK! Magazine
The 35-year-old, pictured here after being crowned Queen of the Jungle, claims she behaved like an ‘absolute scumbag’ when she was on Geordie ShoreCredit: Rex Features
These days, the down-to-earth star — who is engaged to former builder Ercan Ramadan, 38 — is thankful for her journeyCredit: Instagram
The 35-year-old telly favourite was inundated with TV show offers after her I’m A Celebrity triumph — but she confesses that instead of being appreciative, she became insufferable.
She says: “You can get caught up in fame.
“I’ve had my moments.
“When I came out of the jungle I was a right d**k.
“I look back on it and think, ‘My God, you were really flirting with being a proper a***hole there, Vicky’.
“I was awful to my agents.
“I was always tired.
“I’d just won the biggest TV show in the country and people wanted me to be on stuff — I should’ve been grateful, but I just wanted to party with friends and enjoy being a famous person.”
Having found fame on controversial MTV reality show Geordie Shore in 2011, Vicky faced criticism from the pubic for her wild antics — which included binge drinking and having sex on telly — and received abuse in the street.
She says: “I would walk around a supermarket and some guy would say, ‘There’s that s**g off the telly’.
“I believe I’m relatively grounded.
“I’m grateful for those comments, they brought me back to earth.”
But Vicky admitted she wasn’t always so thankful for the criticism.
She says: “If you’re sensitive like me, it made me feel terrible for ages. And really defensive.
“I just couldn’t understand it.
“It’s not like young people aren’t drinking, having a good time and kissing boys they shouldn’t outside this TV show.
“I wasn’t the first person in the world to binge drink.
“So I got defensive and I was upset that I was getting all that heat.
“My journey wasn’t as plain sailing as the reality TV people’s these days.
“We walked so they could run. They don’t know how f***ing good they’ve got it.”
Vicky’s life and career now is a far cry from the days of Geordie Shore, which she looks back on with mixed feelings.
She says: “I don’t think I understood the magnitude of what I was doing.
“I definitely didn’t anticipate where I am now.
“I was naive. There’s no rule book for it.
“That type of reality TV, Geordie Shore, Towie, was all new.
“I made a lot of mistakes.
“First of all, I was an absolute scumbag.
“You can say the TV made me do it, and I’ll place blame where it deserves to be placed.
Vicky found fame on controversial MTV reality show Geordie Shore in 2011Credit: Alamy
The star faced criticism from the pubic for her wild anticsCredit: Planet Photos
“Sometimes I was put in situations where I wasn’t comfortable, sometimes I played up to the cameras because I was trying to give producers what they want, and sometimes you have to hold your hands up.”
Vicky, who was a call centre worker before being cast, continues: “Before I did that show I was on a dangerous trajectory anyway.
“I was angry, misguided, lost, and it manifested itself in aggression.
“I didn’t behave any differently on the show to how I was normally.
“If anything, I calmed myself down as there were a load of people from London working the camera!
“In retrospect, I was too young for the experience.”
These days, the down-to-earth star — who is engaged to former builder Ercan Ramadan, 38 — is thankful for her journey.
She says: “I’m really grateful for everything I’ve got from reality TV, so if my daughter — if I’m blessed enough to have kids — came up to me and wanted to be a reality star, it would be hypocritical of me to say don’t.
“But I’d encourage her to have other interests.
“It’s not all candy and kittens every day.
“Like every job there are pitfalls.
“From my experience, we didn’t burst on the scene and do six weeks in a beautiful villa in Spain and come out with a million Instagram followers and have Boohoo and PrettyLittleThing fighting over us to wear their clothes.
Vicky, pictured here at a film premiere, worked in a call centre before finding fame on Geordie ShoreCredit: Getty
“Ours was very different to the journey that people who do Love Island now have.
“People really didn’t like us for a long time.”
Today, Vicky has reinvented herself as a respected TV presenter, documentary maker and podcast host, with a huge social media following.
But she admits her openness in the past has left her feeling nervous about cancel culture.
“I live in fear of being cancelled every single day,” she says.
“In Geordie Shore we were filmed 24/7 so I was used to people having opinions on me and seeing all of me.
“Now I’m an official adult I don’t know what’s normal to share and what’s not. I don’t know the line.
“I have little filter because of how I’ve grown up in this industry.”
Vicky has won praise for keeping it real on social media, with her posts about body confidence and self-worth proving popular.
She says: “I hate seeing bad pictures of myself but I decided to take control of my narrative.
“I put the worst pictures of myself on Instagram — you can try to pap me looking undesirable but do your worst because everyone’s seen it all before.
“It has opened up a healthy narrative on Insta.
“It can be a toxic place where you never feel good enough.
“So if someone can stroll past and see a picture of me with my period belly, my spots and my Big Mac, and it makes someone else feel better, then I’ve done something right.”
These days, Vicky even counts Hollywood star Amy Schumer among her online followers.
Speaking on Jo Elvin’s Fame podcast, she said: “Amy Schumer follows me on Instagram and she was chatting to me the other day about my periods.
“I was whingeing online about them, saying how I was feeling really bloated.
“I was a bit of a mess and she told me, ‘You need to get checked out, you could have PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome)’. Hold on . . . Amy Schumer was talking to me about my f***y.
“She told me how she had endometriosis.
“I was hugging a Dairy Milk in one of my pictures and she told me dairy exacerbates it and to lay off that.
“So even though she took something very special off me, I still love her and her heart was in the right place.
“I wrote back to thank her for her advice and told her I would seek the guidance of a specialist.
“But also — I cannot believe I was talking to her. I don’t think I’ll ever get over it!”
Life is clearly good right now for Vicky, who credits therapy with helping her find a greater sense of stability.
In fact, she recently revealed she now attends sessions with Ercan, after their relationship suffered during lockdown.
“I’m a huge advocate for therapy”, she says.
“Life coaches, therapists, counsellors, you name it I’ve got it.
“It helps to keep my mind ordered and relatively free of dark thoughts.
“I’m not saying it’s all bright and sunny up there all the time, I can be very anxious and critical, but whatever you’re doing, therapy is important.”
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