Inside Tulisa’s tumultuous love life from well-known exes Max George and bandmate Fazer to intercourse tape ordeal and an abusive relationship that left her suicidal – because the I’m A Celebrity star reveals she’s demisexual

Since rising to fame as a star of the beloved band N-Dubz, Tulisa Contostavlos has made no shortage of headlines with her colourful love life.

However, during her stint in the I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! jungle, Tulisa, 36, has stunned fans by publicly coming out as demisexual, while sharing that she’d been celibate for three years.

During a candid chat in the camp, the former X Factor shared ‘refreshing’ insight into her love life, and was praised by fans for speaking so openly about her sexuality.

Tulisa shared with her campmates that she has no interest in dating anyone, admitting ‘I’m proper guarded,’ and added: ‘I feel like I’m demisexual, I need to have a really close emotional bond with someone.’

Demisexuality is a sexual orientation where a person only experiences sexual attraction after forming a strong emotional connection with someone. 

Since rising to fame in the late Noughties, Tulisa has had a wide range of famous suitors, dating stars including The Wanted‘s Max George, actor Jack O Connell, and even her longtime friend and bandmate Fazer. 

She also had a highly-publicised legal battle with her ex Justin Edwards, after he released a sex tape of her in 2012.

But who are among the famous names that Tulisa has dated in recent years? MailOnline takes a look-back at the star’s colourful love life…

2002 – Teen ex Daniel

When Tulisa was just 14, she met Daniel, a friend of her cousin and bandmate Dappy’s who was 17 and had a job in the music industry.

She described him as ‘gorgeous’ and the second person she had ever slept with but he disappeared afterwards, ‘When he got what he wanted’.

It wasn’t until a year later, when she was 15, that they started dating and fell into a relationship and the popstar said: ‘It was the first time I experienced real love for a man.

‘But it was an excessive love that turned sour quite quickly. It was the first and last time I let a man take me over completely,’ she declared in her 2012 biography, Honest.

At first, she admitted she was ‘content’ with letting Daniel control her as he would get jealous and possessive to the point of violence which could happen at ‘the drop of a hat’.

Detailing the horrific abuse she endured as a teen, Tulisa said: ‘There were times when he would lock me in his flat because he thought I might leave him if he let me out.

‘There were other times when he would get so angry that I’d be the one locking myself in the toilet.’

She suffered death threats from Daniel but said: ‘Still, I stayed with him, like many abused women I mistook his jealousy and possessiveness for love.

‘And I felt I was in love with him. I wanted my relationship with Daniel to work so much that I was prepared to put up with things that I would never stand for today.’

Discussions would end up in arguments which would end up in him kicking her, holding her around the throat or slapping her face.

She said: ‘For me, that was the closest I had come to any sort of discipline and I thought that was something that I desperately needed.

‘Any form of attention whether it be violence or aggression or jealousy, meant that somebody cared about me.’

Daniel eventually broke up with Tulisa, leaving her devastated, but they soon got back together.

After breaking up with her for a second time, Daniel called her horrible names and admitted he had another girlfriend.

She recalled: ‘The things he said to me destroyed me. While I was screaming and crying, Daniel took a call and shoved me across the room saying coldly, ‘My girlfriend’s on the phone’.

‘And he locked himself in his bedroom and started chatting away casually to his new girlfriend leaving me virtually hysterical outside the bedroom door.

‘Then something snapped and I ran to the kitchen drawer and grabbed the first thing that came to hand, which was a hammer of all things.

‘I really have no idea what I intended to do with it but it seemed like a good idea at the time. I banged it on the wall until Daniel came running out in a bad temper and picked me up and threw me on the floor.’

He said: ‘You’re nothing without me and you’ll never amount to anything.’

The breakup left Tulisa feeling suicidal and, not fully aware of what she was doing, took some pills from her mother’s medicine cupboard and drank them down with alcohol.

But recalled: ‘Lucky for me, I was sick before the pills could fully take effect.’

The Say it’s Over singer said that over the years she has matured when it comes to relationships which comes from ‘bitter experience’.

She said: ‘I quite often notice that the guys I’m dating become more attached to me than I am to them. That’s because I find it hard to let my guard down and trust men in the way I used to.

‘There’s always something inside me that stops me falling fully head over heels. Sure, I can mirror a guy’s emotion and enjoy being with him but there’s a constant physical barrier which I find hard to cross.

‘It’s like I’m holding up a shield or wearing a protective suit all the time. I’m an armadillo. It’s still true that I am much happier in a relationship or when I feel loved so I do tend to jump from relationship to relationship.’

‘But nowadays I know how to handle myself when I am single.

‘If a relationship wasn’t going well now, I would be the first person to end it because I don’t want to get my heart broken anymore. These days, I do the dumping.’

2009 – Justin Edwards

During the early years of N-Dubz’s rise to fame Tulisa dated rap artist Justin, but they ended things in 2009.

It was three years later that their relationship hit the headlines once again, when Tulisa revealed that Justin had leaked a sex tape of her.

In a heartbreakingly personal admission to her fans, she confirmed that it was indeed her seen performing a sex act on a man in the video.

And she spoke of her devastation at the betrayal by the former boyfriend she loved who broke her trust.

Tulisa said in a YouTube video she posted online: ‘I’ve never been the type – regardless of being in the public eye – to sit down and keep my mouth shut about anything, especially when I’ve done nothing wrong.

The singer addressed the public without the support of handlers or her manager in a five-minute long monologue during which she blasted ex-love Edwards, who she blamed for the release of the video.

Holding up two pictures of the couple during their relationship, Tulisa says: ‘Justin is someone who I was seeing from the age of 17 off and on for many years.

‘I practically moved in with him, I loved him deeply, had a lot of respect for him, we talked about kids and marriage. I got my record label to give him a singles deal.’

Tulisa went onto sue Justin for leaking the video, and settled after he admitted he was responsible for releasing the sex tape that appeared online and agreed to say sorry. 

Revenge porn was not illegal at the time, meaning she only managed to get a court apology from him. 

The star told waiting photographers she was thrilled that ‘the truth had come out’ over the publication of the intimate footage, and said he’d ‘messed with the wrong woman.’

2010 – 2012 – Fazer

At the heigh of N-Dubz’s fame, Tulisa was in a long-term relationship with her bandmate Fazer, however the pair split in February 2012 after 18 months together.

It was claimed at the time that Fazer’s demands for marriage and a baby led to their split after an 18-month relationship. 

A friend told Closer magazine that Fazer said: ‘I want marriage and a baby and it seems all you want is fame!’

The insider told the publication: ‘He told her if she wasn’t prepared to commit to starting a family, she couldn’t tell him who he could or couldn’t speak to.’

Fazer, real name Richard Rawson, is also said to have asked the chart topper to quit her role on X Factor.

A source told heat magazine: ‘He told her that he thinks she should quit the X Factor, and that she’d changed. It really cut through Tulisa and she started to cry.’

Despite their turbulent split, Tulisa and Fazer remained friends, and with the star’s cousin Dappy, reunited as N-Dubz for a string of concerts last year.

2012 – Jack O’Connell

Following her split from Fazer, it was reported just weeks later that Tulisa was dating Skins star Jack O’Connell.

The actor played drug-addicted James Cook in the cult E4 drama, and is more recently known for his role in the Amy Winehouse biopic Back To Black.

Tulisa mentioned she was out with the star on Twitter, writing: ‘Having a sick night @ aura with @garethvarey @abukjoseph @JackO__c we on a madness! #getoutmyhead.’

And Jack wrote: ‘@officialtulisa @garethvarey @abukjoseph ay ay! Watch this Derby jibba jabba round @joedempsie, he’s not, he’s Nottingham, the opposite…’

A source said at the time: ‘Tulisa likes him because he is – to use her words – a ”bit of rough”.’

While the pair’s romance lasted little more than three months, Tulisa later credited Jack with helping her to overcome the trauma of her sex tape leak.

She wrote in her memoir: ‘As soon as I saw him, everything started to feel better, easier. For the next three weeks he never left my side. And as time went on I started to feel stronger.’ 

2012 – Jody Latham

At the height of her X Factor fame, Tulisa was linked to Shameless star Jody Latham, however things fizzled out between them in a matter of weeks.

A source close to Jody claimed at the time that he felt ‘like an idiot,’ after she cooled things between them.

They told The Sun: ‘He would have done anything for her, but then she just turned cold on him.

‘From getting 30 text messages a day from her, he suddenly only started to get a couple.’

The friend also described the entire experience of dating the Young singer had left him feeling ‘like an idiot’, after her initial talk of settling down and raising a family was proved to be unfounded. 

The pair met on the set of Tulisa’s new video, Sight Of You, on October 9, after she personally selected him to play her love interest in the clip. 

2012 – Max George

In October 2012, Tulisa was linked to The Wanted hitmaker Max George, with the pair pictured leaving a nightclub after attending the Pride Of Britain Awards.

While the pair were seen partying together on multiple occasions, sources insisted at the time that they were just ‘good friends.’

In April 2013 the pair reunited in LA for a night out during The Wanted’s trip to the US, but again surces insisted their relationship was ‘strictly platonic.’ 

‘Tulisa set a few tongues wagging when she turned up, but she and Max are just drinking buddies now,’ a source told The Mirror.

‘The housewarming was to mark The Wanted’s arrival in LA – it’s going to be one of the main events of the series, so producers told them to invite their mates from back home.

‘Tulisa is out there chatting to Hollywood bigwigs about film roles, so she was in town anyway. She brought a big group of mates with her, too.’

2012 – Danny Simpson

Soon after ending her romance with Jody, Tulisa moved onto a romance with footballer Danny Simpson.

After meeting in late 2012, they split eight months later with Tulisa revealing at the time that he was ‘no match’ for her ‘celebrity and intellect.’

She claimed that on one occasion she shoved a pair of £1,000 Christian Louboutin shoes into a Tesco carrier bag and that he became furious, saying ‘what bird does that?’ before insinuating that she should perform a sex act for him.

Tulisa said: ‘He was a fan. He was obsessed for six years. He had a massive crush on me. Finally, he found somebody who knew me.

‘He wasn’t a celebrity until he met me. He was a famous footballer but not a celebrity. As soon as he got with me, he became a celebrity footballer.’

Further twisting the knife, she slammed him for being an ‘a**hole’ and claimed he was fake, adding: ‘He’s not as intelligent as me.

‘And he’s very shallow and I’m very real.’

2014 – Costas Panayiotou 

Tulisa previously dated multimillionaire playboy Costas Panayiotou, the son of Greek-Cypriot property tycoon, Andreas Panayiotou, in 2014.

However, it was little more than a summer romance, with Tulisa confirming in October of that year they’d split.

A source told The Mirror at the time: ‘They really hit it off. They have a lot in common and share several friends and interests, as well as a Greek-Cypriot background.

‘Costas is a bit younger but that doesn’t seem to matter. It’s exciting. They’ve had a great time.’

2017 – David King

One of Tulisa’s last high-profile romances came in 2017, when she dated David King, the nephew and music producer of icon Cher.

The pair are said to have met when they began working together in the studio when Tulisa was working on a follow-up to her debut solo album.

A source said at the time: ‘Things are going really well. They’ve been spending a lot of time together and are both currently staying at Cher’s Malibu home.

‘They met earlier this year – he’s a music producer and he was working on tracks with Tulisa in the studio for her upcoming project.’