Coronation Street star Sue Cleaver said she had not intentionally spoken about her adoption on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! but she felt comfortable enough to share her life experiences with her fellow campmates.
The soap actress, 59, became the third celebrity to be eliminated from the ITV reality show on Monday, following in the footsteps of Loose Women star Charlene White and TV presenter Scarlette Douglas.
In her first interview since leaving the Australian camp, Cleaver told Good Morning Britain presenters Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley that living in the jungle was a “hard slog”.
Cheeky @RichardAArnold! 😂@Sue_Cleaver was the latest star to leave camp after 17 days in the jungle. 🌴🐍 pic.twitter.com/Y8tQbkmro7
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) November 22, 2022
She said: “You are literally looking at the sun and trying to figure out what time of day it is and where the sun is in the sky.
“You’ve lost all track of time, you’re sleep deprived, you don’t know what time you’re going to bed, you don’t know what time you’re getting up so it’s very disorientating and I don’t think you realise that when you watch the show.
“I mean I’ve watched the show from the beginning, I’ve been the best armchair critic there could be but until you’re actually in there, it’s hard, it’s a really hard slog.”
We couldn't let @Sue_Cleaver leave the Jungle without finding out her 'First Things First' and we were seriously impressed with her forward planning 🍫 #ImACeleb pic.twitter.com/nqE4Yt6krz
— I'm A Celebrity… (@imacelebrity) November 22, 2022
During her time on the show, Cleaver told her fellow campmates how a chance encounter at a theatre led to a “lucky” reconciliation with her birth mother.
She had explained that when she was in her early twenties she was at drama school and the Royal Exchange in Manchester were looking for “tiny parts” for the theatre production of Oedipus.
After walking in on the first day, an actor said: “Oh my god, she’s the absolute double of my wife when I met her,” before asking Cleaver for her date of birth.
Suuueee!!! The mother of the camp is the third Celebrity to leave the Jungle. We'll see you back on the cobbles soon with your tight pants on, @Sue_Cleaver! 🩲 #ImACeleb pic.twitter.com/NafhubeNVS
— I'm A Celebrity… (@imacelebrity) November 21, 2022
Cleaver said he then asked where she was born before ringing his wife to say: “I’ve found her.”
The actress, who has played Eileen Grimshaw on Coronation Street since 2000, said that she had not planned on speaking to her campmates about her adoption.
“I have been quite private, I have never spoken about that out of respect for everyone but I felt so comfortable in there with those people and (sisters) Emma and Kate, my brother and my mum said say whatever you feel, what you’re happy to feel, so I did,” she said.
“I think the one thing the world will realise about me is I don’t have a filter. You completely forget that the cameras are there.”
In the jungle, Cleaver said her birth mother had her at the age of 16 or 17, before adding that she grew up in a very loving family and her mother and birth mother have been for dinner and have kept in touch.
After hearing her story, former England footballer Jill Scott said: “Nah, that has just given me goosebumps. That is the most incredible story I think I’ve ever heard.”