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No one knew my secret pain in the Big Brother house, says Tina Malone

EXCLUSIVE: Tina Malone revealed her secret pain during Celebrity Big Brother, admitting she was escaping a toxic relationship, battling depression and dealing with grief behind the scenes

[Tina Malone]

Tina starred on the show in 2009(Image: Channel 4)

Shameless star Tina Malone has revealed she was going through more than viewers realised during her Celebrity Big Brother stint.

When TV star Tina stepped into the CBB house back in 2009, the public saw the fiery, outspoken actress best known for her iconic role as Mimi Maguire in Shameless. But behind the bravado, Tina was hiding deep personal pain that few of her fellow housemates knew about.

What I would say, given the opportunity to do it again, I do think youd go in with a completely different attitude, Tina reflects as she spoke exclusively to Daily Star in collaboration with casino.org. To be blunt, at the time, I was coming out of an incredibly toxic relationship, which nobody knew about except my close family and friends. So it was an escape for me, in more ways than one.

For Tina, Celebrity Big Brother wasnt just a TV challenge, it was a form of refuge. I was also morbidly and clinically obese, she admits. Although I was in Shameless, which was phenomenal playing Mimi, I was having high highs and low lows, as Im bipolar. But I was also very depressed. I had a skinny girl inside, a fat girl trying to get out, and probably wasnt in the greatest of places mentally.

[Tina Malone]

The star went through a lot before going on the show(Image: PA)

The show, which thrust its contestants into a world of cameras, scrutiny, and unpredictable personalities, came at a time when Tina was already battling emotional and physical exhaustion. Id lost my dad a few years before, which had a huge effect on my life and my mental health, she says quietly. I was going into Big Brother and being in the eye of the storm, so to speak.

Looking back, Tina acknowledges that no one can truly prepare for what life in the house entails. I wish Id had a rehearsal, she laughs. But you cant. You just go in, and its raw, its real, and its revealing.

[Tina Malone]

Tina looks totally different now i 2025(Image: Instagram/tinamalone23)

Before adding: "When I did it, it was at its peak, and the people in there were absolutely huge. La Ttoya, Mutya [Beuna], Michelle Heaton, Ben Adams, Tommy Sheridan, Verne Troyer, Coolio, Ulrika, Terry Christian, Lucy Pinder I mean, you'd have to live under a rock to not know who we were. We weren't people who'd been on TV for three weeks, like youd get now.

"It was fascinating being involved in it."

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