Millie Mackintosh has dismissed the affluent ‘lifestyle’ portrayed on Made In Chelsea as ‘fabricated’ and says she travelled to the west London set on public transport after being cast entirely by accident.
The TV personality, 36, became a household name after landing a prominent role in the hugely popular E4 show in 2011, with her personal life played out to cameras across five series before her eventual departure.
But she says the glamorous lifestyles portrayed on the show were in stark contrast to the reality, and reveals she didn’t even live in Chelsea when she landed a part.
‘I wasn’t involved in the pilot episode but I knew some of the people that were,’ she told the Olivia’s House podcast with Olivia Attwood. ‘In our group of friends we’d heard these whispers, we didn’t really know what it was, but there was some kind of thing being filmed.
‘They’d actually filmed the pilot and they were looking at all the castmates. The researchers would go onto their Facebook pages and look at who they were friends with, and then they would try to reach out to people and send them a private message and be like, “can we meet you?”‘
She added: ‘I was living with a flatmate and she had an audition and they were chatting to her in the flat and I was getting ready for a date and I walked out in my underwear and was like shall I wear this outfit or this and was talking about my dating life and they were like you need to be on this show.
Millie Mackintosh has dismissed the affluent ‘lifestyle’ portrayed on Made In Chelsea as ‘fabricated’ and says she travelled to the west London set on public transport
‘I wanted to be on Britain’s Next Top Model and I’d interviewed a lot but didn’t make the last round, so I took the audition for Made In Chelsea and got it.’
Millie would frequently be filmed attending parties and arriving at glamorous night-spots in the rear of a luxury car, but she says the day-to-day reality was rather different.
‘My first day of MIC I got the bus to filming and they made me get in a Bentley and they filmed us getting out and going into a nightclub,’ she recalled. ‘The lifestyle… I wasn’t even living in Chelsea!
‘We were going out and partying and drinking a lot, so that part definitely wasn’t exaggerated.’
Now four years sober, Millie says her time on the show also contributed to an over-reliance on alcohol and her subsequent decision to give up drinking in 2022.
‘I was already going out and enjoying myself quite a lot,’ she recalled. ‘But then, suddenly the pressure of being on TV, and those scenes where sometimes you’d be confronting someone and it would be really uncomfortable.
‘I definitely would be drinking – I’d be drinking before [filming a scene]. Those drink throws didn’t happen when I was sober.’
The TV personality featured across five series of the show before making the decision to leave after embarking on a new relationship with her first husband, rapper Professor Green in the wake of her split from co-star Hugo Taylor.
‘I’d gone through a really painful breakup and at that point I was just finding the whole thing really difficult,’ she said.
‘And then when I met somebody new and knew that relationship wasn’t going to be filmed, it just didn’t make sense anymore. I didn’t want to be there just to comment on other people’s drama.’
The TV personality became a household name after landing a prominent role in the hugely popular E4 show in 2011, with her personal life played out to cameras across five series
The TV personality discussed her time on the show during the latest instalment of Olivia Attwood’s Olivia’s House podcast
The TV personality subsequently married Green, real name Stephen Manderson, at Somerset venue Babington House in 2013.
But three years later the marriage was over and Millie would reunite with ex-boyfriend Hugo, with the couple exchanging vows at Chelsea Town Hall in 2018, two years after her separation from Green.
A parent to daughters Sienna Grace and Aurelia Violet with her second husband, Millie is now single after confirming their separation in March.
And Olivia admitted the recent collapse of her own marriage to footballer Bradley Dack drew parallels with her latest podcast guest.
‘We’ve been Instagram friends,’ she said. ‘We’ve been DMing back and forth, especially over the last couple of weeks. We’ve both been in the trenches.’
‘Everything you’ve posted, I’ve been like, “I feel you,”‘ replied Millie. ‘Every day is different, it’s a journey.
‘It’s definitely a life is life thing, but I’m focused on all the positive things in my life, and there’s lots of exciting things going on. Most days I actually feel good.’
Olivia’s House With Olivia Attwood is available to watch on YouTube now.
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