‘My idyllic childhood came crashing down’: Emily Atack reveals she turned to alcohol and dated an older man as a teenager when her parents divorced
Emily Atack has revealed she turned to alcohol and dated an older man as a teenager when her parents divorced.
In a new interview, the daughter of Kate Robbins and Keith Atack, 30, admitted her ‘idyllic’ childhood – which consisted of trips to ‘uncle’ Paul McCartney’s house – ‘came crashing down’ when they ended their 21-year marriage in 2008.
The actress admitted she was taken out of high school because she was subjected to harsh bullying, and later became ‘depressed’ as she didn’t speak to the comedian and the composer for a while when she moved in with her older sister Martha.
‘My idyllic childhood came crashing down’: Emily Atack has revealed she turned to alcohol and dated an older man as a teenager when her parents divorced
The Inbetweeners star recalled being ‘angry’ at her guardians over their split as she said: ‘I pulled away from Mum, started hanging out with lads and smoking and drinking. I stopped listening and did what I wanted, and by the time I was 14 I was seeing this much older lad.’
Screen star Emily confessed she ‘latched on’ to her boyfriend after her father left their family home, and was ‘pushed around’ by a group of girls who ‘terrorised’ her for two years due to her romance.
The abuse got so bad that the bullies covered her neighbourhood with images of the thespian, as well as her phone number.
The Luton native was later removed from her secondary school after going home in floods of tears as a result of the torment.
‘I pulled away from them’: The daughter of Kate Robbins (pictured) and Keith Atack, 30, admitted her childhood ‘came crashing down’ when they ended their 21-year marriage in 2008
‘My whole world was collapsing’: The screen star confessed she ‘latched on’ to her boyfriend after her father left their home, and was ‘pushed around’ by bullies due to her romance
Emily continued to reflect on her ‘wild’ past as she told The Times: ‘It felt like my whole world was collapsing around me and the bubble of love I’ve been so wrapped up in was bursting. I blamed my parents for ruining everything.
‘I was lying to Mum all the time about where I was and when I moved in with Martha things got pretty out of control for a while. We treated that flat like a hall of residence and it was just one long hedonistic party.’
The media personality revealed she didn’t speak to Kate, 62, for the first time when she relocated and claimed she ‘still tends to repeat that behaviour when things aren’t going right’, but insisted their relationship is ‘less dramatic now’.
Emily recently detailed how her stint on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here in 2018 changed her life when she was ‘feeling lost and had no money’.
‘We treated that flat like a hall of residence and it was just one hedonistic party’: The TV star said she didn’t speak to Kate, 62, for the first time when she moved in with her sister Martha
Speaking to Alison Hammond on new podcast My Life in TV, the TV star, who soared to fame playing Charlotte Hinchcliffe in The Inbetweeners, detailed how roles were dwindling when she grew out of her ‘school girl’ stage.
Having recently launched her eponymous show and scooped a role as team captain on Celebrity Juice, Emily’s career is now soaring and she puts her success down to her career-saving and life-changing jungle stint.
The blonde said: ‘That show changed my life in so many ways. It changed my career, it changed the way I looked at myself. It didn’t really change me, it reaffirmed the person I thought I’d lost. I’d lost so much confidence in myself.
‘I’d lost so much hope for my career and for myself as a person. I was in a really bad place and reminded me of who I was. Rather than change me, it helped me dig deep to find the person I thought had gone.’
‘I’d lost so much confidence in myself’: Emily recently detailed how her stint on I’m A Celebrity in 2018 changed her life when she was ‘feeling lost and had no money’ (pictured)