Nadine Coyle has said she hopes that appearing on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! will help her conquer her fears and grow in confidence.
The former Girls Aloud star said that she has become more fearful and less gutsy since becoming a mother to daughter Anaiya nearly six years ago.
Coyle, 34, is one of the 10 stars on the line-up for this year’s series of I’m A Celebrity, along with the likes of Caitlyn Jenner, Ian Wright, Kate Garraway and Jacqueline Jossa.
She said: “I really want to try something completely new. I am scared of so many things. I used to be brave.
“In the past, I’ve opened a restaurant, had a record label, had my daughter and it was go, go, go with all of these.
“Now I have got so fearful even being in the car, flying or general things. I think it is since I became a parent that I am much more afraid.”
Coyle said she hopes that the jungle-based series, which will include having to live on food rations with very few luxuries in a camp in Australia, as well as undertaking tricky challenges which often involve creepy crawlies, will have a positive impact on her.
“I really hope that by doing this, it pushes me so far out the comfort zone and that I learn to be comfortable, feel relaxed and do the things that I didn’t used to be afraid of,” she said.
Northern Irish singer Coyle said she is scared of “heights, rats, snakes – everything”, and that her loved ones have had mixed emotions about her new TV challenge.
“Some of my friends and family were really shocked,” she said.
“They asked me what I was doing and pointed out I was afraid of my own shadow! But I am just hoping my jungle lady will come out!”
The reality of living in the jungle camp, Coyle said, will be a learning curve, as she has not done anything like it before.
She said: “I’ve never boiled water on a fire, chopped firewood, slept outside – I do hope I learn stuff about me and it’s the next phase.”
Coyle has also said that being separated from Anaiya, five, is going to be one of the most difficult challenges of all.
If she is not the first celebrity to be voted out by the public, it will be the longest they have ever been apart, and she said: “I have been away for 10 days for work before but not longer.
“I am dreading being away from everybody and not being able to phone and say ‘how are you doing? How is my daughter?’”
Coyle had Anaiya with former American football star Jason Bell, in February 2014. She recently split from Bell following an 11-year relationship.
Coyle found fame on the TV talent show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002 along with Girls Aloud band-mates Cheryl, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh, and the band went on to have a successful career, with four number one singles and four number one albums.
The band went on hiatus in 2009 and split in 2013, and Coyle has since gone on to have a solo music career, releasing her debut solo album Insatiable in 2010 and an EP last year.
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! starts on Sunday November 17 at 9pm on ITV.