I’m a Celeb: Jacqui Lambie shocks camp mates with dark confession

Jacqui Lambie’s I’m a Celeb castmates were stunned as the former politician detailed a 2009 incident that almost ended her life.

In the space of just two years, Jacqui Lambie went from being treated in a psychiatric ward to representing Tasmania as a federal senator.

The controversial former politician goes into detail about how she managed to turn her life around in tonight’s episode of I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!

Chatting to journalist Natasha Exelby and model Justin Lacko, Lambie discusses her time in the army, which ended in 2000 when she was medically discharged after injuring her back.

“I should have been one of the first girls to go to East Timor but the day before, I was stuffed,” Lambie says. “I’d been stuffed for two years, I’d been filling myself full of pain killers.”

Jackie Lambie (centre) with army cadets in 1996.

After being discharged, life went downhill for Lambie, who became embroiled in a messy seven-year legal dispute with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs over her military disability pension.

“That’s why I hate them and that is why I take them on,” Lambie tells the camp mates about the department in tonight’s episode.

“It cost them double the amount to fight me,” she says. “Your taxpayers’ money was wasted and I lost 10 years of my life and I nearly lost my life in 2009 by walking out in front of a car. You wouldn’t believe I had to walk out in front of a car for them to help me.”

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Lambie explains to Exelby and Lacko that she remains scarred from the 2009 incident.

“Because my leg hit (the car) first, I have a big (scar) … I refuse to get it fixed, because it reminds me of what I’m fighting for,” she tells them. “I just refuse to. That got me help. So I rehabilitated myself.”

Jacqui Lambie is a contestant on the latest season of I’m a Celeb.

READ MORE: Luke Jacobz’s heartbreaking reason for doing I’m A Celebrity

“How did you get well?” Exelby asks Lambie in tonight’s episode.

“Once I walked out in front of car they started to give me help, so I spent the next two years in and out of a psych unit, I think I spent about 28 weeks there,” Lambie says.

“The day I won my seat in parliament … exactly two years before was my last day in a psych unit. You see, I keep telling you they’re nuts up there in Canberra. I fit in very well there.”

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs declined to comment.

Lambie’s comments come amid a lacklustre reveal of celebs this season, with the latest series lacking serious star power and leaving even the contestants scratching their heads.

No international celebrities have joined the cast for the first time in I’m A Celeb history.

Hosts Dr Chris Brown and comedian Julia Morris kicked off the first episode by announcing there would be a “twist” this season.

Instead of just one camp, this year’s celebrities have been split into two factions — the Campers get couches and comfy cushions, and the Caretaker’s camp which is sparsely furnished with a dreaded double bunk.

To make matters worse, those in the Caretakers camp have to cook and clean for the other group.

In the first episode Lambie basically confirmed she was using I’m A Celebrity as a re-election campaign by announcing she was a “freelance” senator hoping to get back into parliament.

Former Biggest Loser host Ajay Rochester has opened up about her public feud with Michelle Bridges. Picture: Channel 10

Despite bonding over Botox, team captains Richard Reid and Lambie were soon pitted against each other in the first challenge.

Both had to answer questions about the other celebrities and get sprayed with colour dye if they were wrong, with Lambie emerging victorious.

In further controversy this week Ajay Rochester detailed her infamous spat with former Biggest Loser trainer Michelle Bridges.

Speaking to Sam Dastyari about her feud with Bridges on Monday night’s episode, Rochester appeared to have few regrets about the public spat.

“I mean I did drop my pants and write a face on my butt and posted it to Instagram … Michelle made some comment to some television show and she was like ‘I’ve never met a happy fat person,’” she said.

“And I just, and it for me it was the final straw, I had been silent for so long, it was like the little mouse that roared. Could have perhaps chosen better words.”

I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! continues on Channel 10 tonight at 7.30.

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