Singer Jamelia held back tears in a dramatic Celebs Go Dating scene this week after she recalled escaping an abusive relationship.
The hit-making singer and actress, 43, who was once a Loose Women panelist, shared how she “escaped in the night” after music-maker Terry Wallen allegedly “battered” her while she was holding their baby daughter Teja.
Celebs Go Dating star Jamelia: ‘It was a couple of days after I had her’
Talking to relationship expert Anna Williamson, 43, Jamelia claimed: “He would beat me up all the time, and the last time he beat me up was when I had my daughter. It was a couple of days after I had her, she was a newborn baby, and he hit me while I had her in my arms.
“I was very young, I was too young, I was 16 and he was 25. And, at the time, I would have told you it was love and it was amazing. And because it was to me as a 16 year old. But the relationship was abusive.”
The relationship with Terry happened at the start of her music career, where she went on to bag four MOBO Awards, a Q Award, nine BRIT Award nominations, eight UK top-10 singles and three studio albums making the top 40 in the UK.
Jamelia also alleged to Anna that she could “go and do a show to thousands of people and then I’ll come home and get battered just because, you know: ‘Who do you think you are?’”
Viewers react to the singer’s emotional revelation on Celebs Go Dating
Many took to X, formerly Twitter, to react to her revelation.
One said: “Jamelia opening up about her abusive relationship is so brave, it takes a lot of courage to escape that and then talk about it.”
Another wrote: “Jamelia just made me well up then. What a genuine and brave woman to talk to openly about what she’s been through.
“She’s just fabulous. Hope she finds her soulmate soon, she deserves the world.”
How many kids does Jamelia have?
The pop icon, who is a mum-of-four, shares Teja, now 23, with Terry, and Tiani, 19 with her ex-husband Darren Byfield.
Her youngest daughters, six year-old True and Jream, 20 months, are shared with her former partner whom she never married.
She previously asked for help regarding dating.
Struggling to juggle family life and work
The struggles to juggle single parenting and work was the reason behind her sudden Hollyoaks exit as Sharon Bailey in 2021, which she reprised last year.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse of any kind, contact Refuge for free on 0808 2000 247.
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