Giovanna Fletcher thinks school bullies helped her to win 'I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'

Giovanna Fletcher

Giovanna Fletcher

The 35-year-old author was tormented by her peers while at school, but that experience taught her to be compassionate with other people, which ultimately helped her on the ITV show.

She told The Sun newspaper: "I wouldn’t be the person I am today had I not been bullied - it shapes you. I had name calling at school between the ages of seven and nine. It was physical, too.

“I was pushed into rose bushes, which were around the school. I can remember being backed into those and I would get thorns everywhere. It was never nice having a school nurse pick thorns out your bottom.

“Had I not been bullied I wouldn’t have had that time to let that imagination flourish. I also don’t think I would be as compassionate as I am today. I really care about people knowing that they’re not on their own.”

Giovanna eventually moved to the Sylvia Young Theatre School - where she met her husband Tom Fletcher - after seeing it on TV and applying over the phone without her parents knowing.

She said: “My family didn’t do things like that. We didn’t know about that.”

Meanwhile, Giovanna previously described the Duchess of Cambridge as her "girl crush" after interviewing the royal for her podcast.

The interview was initially meant to last for 45 minutes, but they actually chatted for 90 minutes in the end.

Speaking about the experience, she recalled: "What a complete career high, just two mums nattering away, but in true mum fashion, we were nattering so much that by the end we were drinking cold tea."