Tulisa confesses sex attack horror in book
X Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos has spoken about for the first time about suffering a sex attack when she was 16 years old. The N-Dubz singer turned talent show mentor revealed the traumatic experience in her new autobiography, Honest, saying that the assault happened on a night out during which her friends were spiking other people's drinks. Despite saying she did not want to be involved, Tulisa recalls that she felt 'abormally drunk' and blacked out during the party. She then woke in a bedroom to find a friend of hers having sex with her. "I couldn't even move, let alone get up or speak, and once again I just blacked out," she said. "I realise now, of course, that I'd done nothing to be ashamed of and the boy in question should have been prosecuted, but I was young and confused and not strong enough to speak up." The book, which is being serialised in The Sun this week, also sees Tulisa discussing her involvement in a girl gang which took part in criminal activity. Although she admits she is glad to have left her old life behind, she said that it still 'feels normal' for her.
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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.
An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.