Scarlett Moffatt has admitted she “probably gets less” work after moving away from London but said her mental health is much better.
She said: “I measure life in happiness.”
The 30-year-old Gogglebox star made the move to London after winning I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! In 2016.
But she returned home to her native County Durham in recent months as she found living in the capital a “culture shock”. She now lives with her boyfriend Scott.
Speaking about her decision to move, the star said she still felt pressure to live in London for work opportunities but she decided to put her mental health first and had never been happier.
She said: “I moved to the big city and I wasn’t a city girl. It was a massive culture shock. It was hard adjusting. I felt a bit like, had I failed by leaving London and going back up north. But you can’t fail if it’s for your mental health.
“Still now, people say to me: ‘You need to move to London’. I think I probably do get less, stuff, [work] because I suppose I am miles away. But I am really happy. I measure life in happiness now.”
Moffatt–who has also co-presented Saturday Night Takeaway with Ant and Dec–is an ambassador for The Samaritans, who she credits helping her when she was “at her lowest”.
Earlier this week, she told Grace Dent, on her podcast Comfort Eating, she would sit on her own in public and try and talk to strangers when she first moved to Camden, north London, as she was so lonely.
She said her story was proof to others finding life tough that “eventually it does get better.”
“I just got made an ambassador for Samaritans,” she said. “That is my greatest achievement ever. I can’t believe it has come full circle because when I was at my lowest point, it was Samaritans that got me out of that hole. I hope I can show people that you don’t have to give up and that eventually it does get better. Honestly it felt like it never could.”
Moffatt added: “I just felt like I wanted to disappear for a bit, not forever, but a bit. I am just happy to be happy which is obvious but I felt like for a while I had to pretend. And now, it is just so much easier actually being happy.”
The television personality was speaking ahead of her latest project, Apocalypse Wow.
The ITV2 show sees team leader Moffatt and a groups of celebrity challengers take on a series of physical– and often ludicrous–challenges against a number of opponents. The celebrities have to overcome their opponents in order to win money for charity.
About the show, Moffatt said: “I can’t believe that I have done something crazier than the [I’m A Celebrity] jungle. I mean, I thought that was the peak isn’t it? Nothing can be crazier than eating a camel’s penis or being underground with rats. I was wrong.
“I just know everyone who will watch it will laugh from start to finish, because we did. It is just a laugh. It is just a bit of an escape from reality.”
You can talk to the Samaritans at any time on 116123
