EastEnders star Shona McGarty has revealed how she was once mistaken for former The X Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos.
“I was in a fish and chip shop, ordering a saveloy,” she told The Sun’s TV Magazine.
“Somebody said: “You’re that girl, aren’t ya?” I said: ‘Er, yeah, EastEnders.’ He said: ‘No, Tulisa.’ I got my saveloy and laughed all the way home.”
It’s not the first time the comparison has been made – Shona once dressed up as Tulisa for a magazine photoshoot.
Doing a celeb alike shoot. I was tulisa for a day!
Loved it xxx pic.twitter.com/RvkFumQZ— Shona McGarty (@ShonaBM) January 11, 2013
“Doing a celeb alike [sic] shoot,” she wrote on Twitter alongside a photo of her dressed as the star. “I was Tulisa for a day! Loved it.”
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Shona, 25, has been a household name since she joined EastEnders in 2008 playing the role of Whitney Carter. She admits that finding fame at a young age meant she struggled with self-esteem.
“I would look at certain images and feel, ‘Oh, that’s what I should look like,’” she said.
“I was very young and not really knowing how I should be away from the camera. All I knew was Whitney and her character. But I never put any pressure on myself. I just didn’t feel very confident.”
Shona has developed a tougher skin over the years, and says she no longer worries about what other people think.
“I’m pretty strong,” she says. “But I think you have to be in this industry.
“You’ve got to be as comfortable [with yourself] as you can,” she told Fabulous magazine. “There’s so much pressure on young women to be really skinny or have fake boobs and lips, and I’m just not up for that.
“One minute a big bum is really popular and the next minute the Kate Moss look is back. You can’t win, so the best way to be is just yourself.”
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Shona also credits the support of her electrician boyfriend Ryan Harris, whom she describes as “normal and down to earth”.
She says: “Because he was never a fan of EastEnders, and didn’t even know who I was when we met, he keeps me grounded.”