Tulisa Contostavlos: ‘My life fell apart’ after fake sheikh set up drugs bust

Published

8 months ago

November 21, 2024

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Tulisa Contostavlos has opened up about the moment she says her life “fell apart” after being “set up by a British newspaper” and charged with supplying drugs.

The N-Dubz star has been speaking about her experiences in 2013 on the reality show, I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!

The charges against the singer were later dismissed after prosecution witness “fake sheikh” journalist Mazher Mahmood was found to have tampered with evidence during her 2014 trial.

“2013 was the year I was set up by a British newspaper, for concern in the selling of class A drugs,” she told fellow campmate Oti Mabuse.

“The guy’s name was Mahmood and basically, I was approached by a big movie company and they sent me a tweet or a DM from their official account to audition me for a movie role… I’d dabbled in acting, so this opportunity for me was huge.”

Contostavlos, 36, said the role was offering £3.5m and she was flown out for meetings with producers in Las Vegas but told former Strictly Come Dancing star Mabuse “it was a lie”.

She claimed the team behind the movie encouraged her to take on a real-life role of a “bad girl from London who was constantly up to naughtiness, rolling with gangs, up to all kinds of naughty stuff”.

Contostavlos said “they had me dangling on the end of a string”, claiming every time she met with the team they would tell her “we need some drugs”.

“After months and months, eventually they got a number and it was of someone that wasn’t even a drug dealer, it was an aspiring movie producer and I wanted to make a hook up as well for that person, but I didn’t know anyone that could do that,” she said.

“The long story short is they ended up ordering £800 worth of cocaine from the number that I had given them.

“Then before I knew it, I was being arrested in the concern of the selling of Class A drugs and I was facing four years in prison.”

Contostavlos revealed she lost “all my endorsements” over the incident and “my life fell apart”, she said.

“When it came to the trial, I’d had a conversation with one of their drivers, I was being recorded but I didn’t know, I was saying how anti-drugs I am, so they were very aware of my feelings towards drugs.”

Contostavlos said the driver initially gave a statement confirming she was anti-drugs, however she claimed that as the trial loomed the journalist forced him to change his statement.

In 2016, Mahmood was jailed for 15 months after being found guilty of conspiring to pervert the course of justice relating to his actions in Tulisa Contostavlos’s court case.

Entertainment

Snoop Dogg becomes co-owner and investor of Swansea football club saying it’s ‘an underdog just like me’

Published

3 days ago

July 18, 2025

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Snoop Dogg becomes co-owner and investor of Swansea football club saying it's 'an underdog just like me'

Snoop Dogg has become a co-owner and investor of Swansea, with the US rapper hailing the Welsh football club as “an underdog that bites back, just like me”.

The former Premier League club, which plays in the English second tier, confirmed the US rapper and producer plans to use his own money to invest in it, Sky Sports reports, although it didn’t disclose financial details.

“My love of football is well known, but it feels special to me that I make my move into club ownership with Swansea City,” the music icon said in the announcement.

“The story of the club and the area really struck a chord with me,” he added. “This is a proud, working class city and club.

“An underdog that bites back, just like me.

“I’m proud to be part of Swansea City. I am going to do all I can to help the club.”

Swansea’s American owners, led by Brett Cravatt and Jason Cohen, are trying to grow the Championship club’s global brand and increase commercial revenue.

Snoop Dogg, 53, who has 89m followers on Instagram and more than 20m on X, helped launch the team’s 2025-26 home shirt last weekend.

The club ownership group said: “To borrow a phrase from Snoop’s back catalogue, this announcement is the next episode for Swansea City as we seek to create new opportunities to boost the club’s reach and profile.”

Luka Modric, who recently signed with AC Milan from Real Madrid, joined Swansea’s ownership group in April.

Entertainment

Police taking no further action after investigating Kneecap’s Glastonbury show

Published

3 days ago

July 18, 2025

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Police taking no further action after investigating Kneecap's Glastonbury show

Police are taking no further action over Kneecap’s performance at Glastonbury.

Officers said they had investigated “comments about a forthcoming court case made during Kneecap’s performance” at the festival on 28 June.

However, after Crown Prosecution Service advice, they decided there is not enough evidence “to provide a realistic prospect of conviction for any offence”.

The Avon & Somerset force started investigating the Irish group’s show last month, as well as comments by punk-rap duo Bob Vylan.

It said they were looking at a possible public order incident.

Police said on Friday that the investigation into Bob Vylan’s performance was ongoing.

The London duo were widely criticised – and caused a BBC crisis – after leading on-stage chants of “death to the IDF” (Israel Defence Forces).

Kneecap posted a photograph on Instagram, which the group said was an email from police announcing the case was being dropped.

They said their packed Glastonbury gig was a “celebration of love and solidarity” and reporting used “wildly misleading headlines”.

Fears over what Kneecap might do or say during the performance had prompted the BBC not to show it live.

The group said: “Every single person who saw our set knew no law was broken, not even close… yet the police saw fit to publicly announce they were opening an investigation.”

“There is no public apology, they don’t send this to media or post it on police accounts,” they added.

The police statement on Friday said they had informed Kneecap of their decision to drop the case.

One of the group’s members appeared in court in June charged with a terror offence.

Liam Og O hAnnaidh is accused of displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah, a proscribed organisation in the UK, at a gig last year.

He was released on unconditional bail ahead of a second court appearance in August.

Entertainment

Tomorrowland: ‘Devastating’ blaze destroys main stage at major festival – two days before it was due to begin

Published

4 days ago

July 17, 2025

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Tomorrowland: 'Devastating' blaze destroys main stage at major festival - two days before it was due to begin

A huge fire has destroyed the main stage of a major festival in Belgium – two days before it was due to begin.

Tomorrowland is a dance music event as big as Glastonbury – and David Guetta was due to perform.

Footage showed flames and thick plumes of black smoke engulfing the stage and spreading to nearby woodland on Wednesday.

The annual festival in the town of Boom, north of Brussels, is one of the biggest in Europe and attracts about 400,000 people over two consecutive weekends.

It is famous for its immersive and elaborate designs and attracts big names within dance music – including Guetta, best known for tracks When Love Takes Over and Titanium.

Dutch DJs Martin Garrix and Charlotte de Witte were also due to perform, along with the likes of Swedish House Mafia, Eric Prydz and Alok.

The festival’s website described the creative elements which went into the elaborate main stage.

The theme, described as Orbyz, was “set in a magical universe made entirely out of ice” and “full of mythical creatures”.

Organisers said no one was injured in the blaze but confirmed “our beloved main stage has been severely damaged”, adding they were “devastated”.

Spokesperson Debby Wilmsen added: “We received some truly terrible news today. A fire broke out on the Tomorrowland site … and our main stage was essentially destroyed there, which is truly awful.

“That’s a stage that took years to build, with so much love and passion. So I think a lot of people are devastated.”