SCARLETT Moffatt was 24 when she first appeared on telly — in her jogging bottoms on the sofa alongside her mum and dad.
Since joining Channel 4’s Gogglebox in 2014, a lot has changed.
The exposure led to stints on TV hits such as I’m A Celebrity and Saturday Night Takeaway.
But she has also experienced a darker side to fame, with online trolls slating her appearance.
She has found a new way to handle internet abuse, with boyfriend of three years Scott Dobinson helping her feel “invincible”.
Scarlett — who battled Bell’s palsy as a teen after being hit by a car — said: “One side of my face is a bit further down than the other and I normally sleep with an eye mask on because that eye doesn’t close properly.
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“Trolls have commented on it and sometimes I just give them the number for Samaritans.
“I say, ‘If you’re not feeling all right, here is the number because I just think you can’t be in a good place to project that much hate on to people’.
“But Scott has made a big difference to my happiness.
“When you have got lovely people around you, you do feel invincible to the trolls because you just don’t care any more.
“I think having this job where I’m looking at myself constantly, you have got to love your face because you are staring at it all the time.”
Scarlett is busier than ever, with a documentary on Tourette’s syndrome due to air later this year.
And she can be seen this week on BBC2’s Pilgrimage, trekking through Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland during a spiritual journey with six other celebrities including Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Nick Hewer.
The show’s name could not be more apt, as Scarlett says the experience helped her embrace her Christian faith more fully.
She said: “I’ve always been religious.
I do feel like there is quite a stigma attached to it — like it’s not cool and you don’t want to come across like you are preaching.
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“Now if people ask, I won’t shy away from it, whereas before I would play it down a little bit.”
- Watch Scarlett on The Pilgrimage: The Road To The Scottish Isles on Friday at 9pm on BBC2.
