“But I’m so grateful Mum forced me to come out of my shell. It was traumatic at the time, but that kick-started a whole new area of my life in terms of performing.
“Being involved in the creative arts helped me find my voice,” she says. “It’s crazy that I became an actress, because I was so shy. Growing up, nobody looked at me and said, ‘That girl should be an international movie star!’ Even now, I still get really nervous for my live performances, but I’ve learnt to embrace it.”
Rebel explained that her shyness is linked to her struggles with emotional eating.
She explained: “When I was at my heaviest, I also had the most international attention on me. Because I’m not a natural performer, my natural personality is very introverted; the way I dealt with that pressure was to eat. I would reward myself with a block of chocolate,” she says.