But Charlie King, 39, has confessed he has struggled with his mental health and body image ever since being in the spotlight.
In fact, in an exclusive interview with The Sun, the personal trainer has revealed he got himself into such a dark place that he turned to plastic surgery - and has been left with a botched nose job that still needs fixing.
“My mental health has been a work in progress for a good few years,” he says.
Charlie joined the cast of TOWIE as Gemma’s boyfriend in 2012, but they split a few months later, when he found out Gemma had sent racy messages to co-star Ricky Rayment.
They went on to have a very on-off friendship, and had some blazing rows.
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Their most famous was one during which Gemma compared Charlie - who had just come out as bisexual - and their gay pal Bobby to singer Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish.
Charlie left the show in 2013 and went on to pursue a career in personal training, coming out as gay on This Morning a year later.
Meanwhile, he’s seen many of his co-stars go on to bigger and better things, including Gemma, who’s now a millionaire after appearances on Dancing On Ice, I’m A Celebrity and Celebrity Big Brother.
And Charlie wonders why he never managed to make it in the TV world like them.
“This is the problem with me, because I've had my struggles over the years, and I lost my confidence massively,” he says.
I thought I’d be next Towie superstar but plastic surgery ruined my life - I ended up penniless, living with mum & pinning hopes on Kerry Katona’s nose surgeon
“I had a really good platform on TOWIE, and I was really well liked, even though I was a little bit cringey at times, and people couldn't understand what I was saying, when I said I didn’t really believe in labels and my sexuality was a real struggle for me.
“If you look back now, that was quite a thing to say on a show like that. I didn't really appreciate that was my reality, but that was really putting myself out there on the line with authenticity and vulnerability.
“But getting that next gig has actually not been an easy one for me.
“I've watched them all go on all the other shows, a lot of them anyway, and you can't help but question, I wonder why it hasn't quite happened for me, because I'd love to dance.
“I'd love to do Dancing On Ice, I'd love to do more presenting, or have an opportunity to show another side to me, and I don't quite know why it hasn't clicked yet.”
What is body dysmorphic disorder (BDD)?
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a mental health condition where a person spends a lot of time worrying about flaws in there appearance. These flaws are often unnoticeable to others.
People of any age can have BDD, but it's most common in teenagers and young adults, and affects both men and women.
You might have body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) if you:
Worry a lot about a specific area of your body
Spend a lot of time comparing your looks with other people's
Look at yourself in mirrors a lot or avoid mirrors completely
Go to a lot of effort to conceal flaws
Or pick at your skin to make it "smooth"
BDD can seriously affect your daily life, including your work, social life and relationships, and can also lead to depression, self-harm and even thoughts of suicide.
Charlie reveals he cringes when he looks back on his time on TOWIE, but that doesn’t stop him from reminiscing about the show when he bumps into the rest of the cast.
“I saw Bobby Norris the other day,” he says. “We went to an event, and I hadn't seen him in years.
“It was so nice to see him, and we just got sucked into that hole of talking about TOWIE and our old times together and catching up.
“My friend I was with said, ‘Watching you and Bobby was just like watching old TOWIE, it was hilarious,’ and it then made me really nostalgic.
“The show was a phenomenon. It gave us all the platform that we have today, and I will always be really thankful for that, but I look back a little bit at the lost Charlie that I was and I cringe.
“I can't always watch. There's always a lot of memes out there with me and Gemma, me and Bobby, and sometimes I watch them, and, literally, my toes curl and I grit my teeth, but equally, you've got to embrace that's who I was then, and that was part of the journey. And it was iconic.”
'Nose job ruined my life'
Since leaving TOWIE, Charlie has been diagnosed with body dysmorphia, which is a mental health condition where a person spends a lot of time worrying about flaws in their appearance which might be unnoticeable to others.
He tells us: “I think you can get very caught up in your image, in this day and age, with what you think you need to be, and obviously the social media world that we live in, and my background with reality TV and having a bit of exposure and being in in the spotlight once upon a time, you do get very consumed with how you look.”
Charlie went on to have a nose job in 2021, which went horribly wrong.
He continues: “I got in a very, very dark place with how I saw myself, and that's why I resorted to plastic surgery, something that I'm now having to deal with, even today.”
I got in a very, very dark place with how I saw myself, and that's why I resorted to plastic surgery, something that I'm now having to deal with, even today.
Charlie King
In 2022, he appeared in front of the Health and Social Care Committee as part of its inquiry into the impact of body image on mental and physical health.
"During lockdown I became obsessed with my nose," he told MPs on the committee.
"I saw a plastic surgeon who agreed 'we could fix that' and he gave me validation."
He told them there was no assessment by the surgeon on his mental health, or a need for him to disclose that he suffered from BDD.
And he added how when the nose job went wrong, he "went to the depths of despair".
"I had to go and live with my mum because I couldn't earn money and I was depressed.”
Kerry Katona's surgeon
Charlie has now taken steps to reverse the effects of his nose job, ahead of his 40th birthday next August.
He’s revealed he’s had a consultation with the surgeon who fixed Kerry Katona’s nose, after she was left with three holes in it due to cocaine abuse.
He tells us: “He put a camera up my nose, and he was like, ‘You have got some serious issues here that will need fixing.’”
Despite this, Charlie is focusing on trying to keep a positive mindset, and has created Plan360, a detailed, gym-based workout plan spread across six weeks, based on his own workout regime.
He finishes: “Since speaking about body dysmorphia a couple of years ago, I really just put the work in on trying to find that self-love and and understanding how my brain works, and making sure that I don't trigger myself and put myself under unnecessary pressure.
