Tulisa Contostavlos has said she contemplated taking her own life after falling victim to a tabloid cocaine sting which led to a trial that collapsed last week. In a BBC3 documentary, the 26-year-old X Factor judge said she suffered depression and took a potentially lethal combination of painkillers and alcohol following an elaborate sting by Sun on Sunday reporter Mazher Mahmood.
Mahmood, known as the 'fake sheikh', posed as a film producer and led Contostavlos to believe she was in the running for a £3.5 million film deal. She said the ordeal left her an 'emotional wreck' and that she 'just necked them [painkillers] with a bottle of vodka'. Her assistant called an ambulance, but she was not admitted to hospital.
This is not the first time the London-born singer has attempted suicide; she made two attempts as a teenager. The documentary includes video footage filmed by Contostavlos herself, showing her sobbing and calling Mahmood 'evil' after learning she would be charged with brokering a cocaine deal.
The trial collapsed dramatically after it emerged that Mahmood had lied on the stand and pressured his driver about evidence. He is now under investigation by the Crown Prosecution Service, which is reviewing evidence from dozens of past cases.
Contostavlos told BBC Radio 4's Today programme she felt she had been 'made out to be a monster' and that part of the situation was a 'class thing'. She said the sting was 'horrific and disgusting entrapment' that left her depressed and paranoid.
She described the moment the trial collapsed as like 'waking from a bad dream', adding: 'There's a lot more to the story that didn't get to come out in my defence case ... everything up until that point was me acting, pretending that I was this bad girl.'
