Emily Atack Exclusive: ‘Fame Can Be A Double-Edged Sword, I’m Still Trying To Get Used To The Tabloid Attention’

Since her appearance in last year's I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!, Emily Atack has been propelled into British stardom. Her personal life has become a talking point for many, with social media users eager to keep up-to-date with her whereabouts, and the media quick to pass comment on both her love life and appearance. While fame isn't something that's new to her (she previously starred in The Inbetweeners and Dancing On Ice), this newly-found tabloid attention is more intensified than anything she's ever experienced before. So just how is she coping with it all?

'I’m still trying to get used to the tabloid attention,' admits Emily. 'I’ve always managed to maintain a private life up until now, but [being on I'm A Celebrity] has completely changed everything. I'm fascinated by how may people care about the [things I do].' People have become interested in following Emily's every move, and something as small as talking to a friend can spiral into a media frenzy. 'Most of my guy friends who I've been spotted chatting to have become my mystery man [in the press],' laughs Emily.

'The main difference that I’ve noticed [since being thrust into the limelight] is what happens when I go to showbiz events. Before, I just used to stand in the corner by the canapés and nobody would really care that I was there. But now, the body language of everyone has changed. People that I love and admire come over and say the nicest things to me. Nicky from Westlife recently asked me to take pictures with his kids - I just couldn’t believe it, that was a big moment.'

As Emily points out, 'fame can be a double-edged sword, and you have to take the bad with the good. The highs are incredibly high, and the lows can be incredibly low. I avoid social media and articles with negative comments about myself, because the first few times that I got called fat broke my heart, it absolutely destroyed me. It’s awful when someone says something like that to you.'

Her stint in I'm A Celebrity no doubt helped her build a thick skin, as she was 'completely stripped bare' and had to embrace being herself and 'not wearing any makeup', something which she would have shied away from before. 'Everyone is comparing lives on social media and wants the perfect body, perfect image, perfect outfit, perfect life – we’re striving for this perfection, and it’s so unhealthy because there’s no such thing as perfection. So now, I just don’t care [if someone criticises me online], because there are so many wonderful things that people say to me, that I’m not going to get upset about one or two crap comments. After all, you can’t please everyone.'

Watch Grazia's Interview With Emily Atack:

Emily credits 'a good support network and trusting relationships' as one of the reasons that she's been able to survive under intense public scrutiny. She tells me that 'you’ve got to learn to laugh in the face of adversity' and remain humble. 'I go to the same places and hang around with the same people I’ve hung around with since I was at school,' she says. 'The only difference now is how excited my friends become when I get a free bottle of champagne [at a restaurant], or their hysteria at the prospect of all the free clothes they’ll get from my new clothing range with In The Style.'

Her range, which just launched online, caters to all women, 'whether you're a size 6 or 24'. Emily 'wanted to design a range that all shapes and sizes felt confident and sexy in.' She also 'didn’t want any retouching or slimming of the images, because it’s not healthy to constantly look at airbrushed pictures. It’s not healthy because it’s not real life.'

Shop Emily's In The Style range here, and shop our favourite pieces from her collection below: