Strictly Come Dancing star Kym Marsh rose to fame after appearing on Popstars in the early 2000s.
As a result of the reality series, she was offered a place in the band Hear'Say and the rest was history.
However, it wasn't all glitz and glamour for her before she became a household name.
The 46-year-old was a single teenage mother and had barely any money to survive month by month.
Along with her daily monetary struggles, the star worried about her sick father, who had a heart condition, and whether he would pass away.
At one point, she and her sister had been forced to club together in order to buy nappies for their children to share.
"I was pregnant at 18, so I've lived on £80 a week... when you've got two kids and you're living in rented accommodation, it's hard to get out of the rut," she revealed.
The money struggles had been a part of her life since she was a child as her father lost his business.
"I've seen my parents with literally a fiver a week to put food on the table," she explained of her childhood.
One of her main worries was whether she'd be able to pay for gas and electricity in her damp-ridden rented house.
She said: “I had two small children to support on a tiny budget and life was very difficult. One of my main worries each week was making sure I had enough money for the gas and electric.
"I had a meter card which I tried to keep topped up but the money didn’t always stretch. There would be times we were in a dark, freezing cold house."
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"As a mum, you want to do what’s best for your kids and it killed me," she added.
“I felt desperate at times, thinking I was never going to lift myself out of this rut."
She fought tooth and nail to build a better future for her children.
Kym has a son named David (born 1995) and a daughter named Emilie (born 1997) from a relationship with Dave Cunliffe.
"[Attitudes are] as though the minute you have children you should be chained to the sink and changing nappies and just accept that your life's over," she told the Independent.
"But [the critics] don't do it themselves, and nobody should have to.
"Actually, when you have kids, life just begins, because you're achieving not just for yourself, but so your kids can have a better life, too."
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