In an interview with News of the World’s Fabulous magazine, Girls Aloud star Nicola Roberts opened up about how being considered the ugly one in the ‘Popstars: The Rivals’ group consumed her. “I never even mentioned my insecurities to the rest of the girls because I felt so embarrassed,” the singer admitted. “If something negative was written about my looks, I’d clock the other girls folding the newspaper up or hiding it away. I didn’t say anything and they didn’t say anything. It was like we all agreed to pretend it hadn’t happened. I was also aware that it sounded pathetic. I was in this amazing band, I had this great life, and I was letting the fact that people slagged me off for being ginger and miserable ruin that. My way of dealing with it was to go home to Runcorn in Cheshire as often as I could to go out with my mates and get slaughtered. It was the only thing I could do to block everything out.”

But now, Nicola has overcome doubts about her looks after working on ITV2’s ‘The Passions Of…’, where she helped create a range of make-up for girls with fair skin. “I don’t know if it’s my face that’s changed or that my confidence has grown,” she said. “I realized I’d been completely focused on thinking beauty was all about a certain image. The great thing about women is that we’re all different, and I’m different. I’ve still got bright red hair, a skinny body and blue legs, but I like the fact I’m different. I like me.” Read more, check out pictures and video at fabulousmag.co.uk.