I'm A Celeb's Tulisa says she's demisexual - here's what it means

Image source, PA Media

Tulisa Contostavlos told camp mates she needs an emotional bond to feel sexually attracted to others

Riyah Collins

BBC Newsbeat

I'm A Celeb's Tulisa Contostavlos has told her campmates she's demisexual and has abstained from sex for more than three years.

The N-Dubz singer and former X-Factor judge explained she needs "to have a really close emotional bond with someone" before she finds them sexually attractive.

"For me, it's all about the connection and the emotions that I feel with someone and then wanting to express them in that way," she said, speaking on Tuesday's episode of the ITV show.

Her description of herself as demisexual got a lot of viewers wondering what the term "demisexual" means.

It's a word used to describe people who only develop a sexual attraction to others after forming a deep bond based on their personality, rather than feeling an instant connection.

They may not fancy someone based on things like the way they look, smell or sound.

Tulisa told her campmates she's "not an overly sexualised person".

"I need actual depth... I'm a slow, slow burner," she said.

The 36-year-old from London said she had a profile on exclusive dating app Raya but the thought of dating "genuinely makes me feel physically sick".

Image source, Getty Images

Tulisa started in the music industry as one third of N-Dubz, alongside Dappy and Fazer

Tulisa first shot to fame as part of N-Dubz in the 2000s before going solo with tracks including Young and Sight of You.

After she entered the Australian jungle on Sunday, broadcaster Rylan Clark, who met Tulisa when she was a judge on X-Factor, urged viewers not to comment on her appearance.

Speaking to podcaster and former Love Islander Olivia Atwood, Tulisa discussed having surgery and fillers after she was diagnosed with Bell's palsy.

Bell's palsy is a type of paralysis that temporarily affects the ability to control the facial muscles.

Tulisa told Olivia's So Wrong It's Right podcast the condition meant her "whole face dropped" so she started getting treatments to "balance out the symmetry" of her face.

She's in the Australian jungle alongside Coleen Rooney, content creator GK Barry and McFly's Danny Jones as well as Radio 1 DJs Melvin Odoom and Dean McCullough.

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