Shona McGarty’s mum reveals magical I’m a Celeb moment – ‘It was a weight off our minds’

Shona McGarty’s mum Jennifer opens up to the Mirror about her daughter’s anxiety, saying goodbye to Whitney Dean, and her incredible jungle singing in a wide-ranging interview

18:00, 21 Nov 2025Updated 18:44, 21 Nov 2025

Shona McGarty’s face lit up after chatting to Ruby Wax about mental health, says her mum(Image: ITV/Shutterstock)

For Shona McGarty’s mum Jennifer, it was the one moment in the jungle that told her everything she needed to know. It came during Shona’s quiet conversation with Ruby Wax, when her daughter finally admitted how bad her anxiety had been and she was gently reassured that she was doing brilliantly.

“I could see little Shona’s face light up, as she thought ‘oh good. I am actually smashing this….I am doing it. I am coping,’” she says, Watching thousands of miles away from home , Jennifer knew that look on her daughter’s face straight away.

“It was a weight off our minds,” she says. “We know her really well, and you can tell when she is smiling and if it is genuine, and when it is not. She has been naturally herself, which she always said she would be.” That moment mattered because Shona’s anxiety has been a real presence in her life.

So proud: Shona and her mum Jennifer(Image: Jennifer McGarty)

Speaking before entering the jungle, the 34-year-old said her mental health had been “pretty bad” over the last four or five years. And she confessed to being scared that her anxiety “might rear its ugly head” in the camp.

“Of course it’s hard to watch any of your children, or anybody you know, go through anxiety but she did the right thing…she recognised it and went and got medical help, which is what everybody should do,” Jennifer says. “You do not suffer alone. There are things that can be done, and you learn to cope with it, and it is only a small part of Shona that does not define her at all.”

For Shona, saying yes to the jungle was part of that shift. After 16 years playing Whitney Dean, Shona was quietly considering whether to take a leap into something new.

“She was toying with the decision to leave for a couple of years,” Jennifer says. “It is a brave move, because EastEnders is regular and comfortable, both financially and emotionally.”

She is desperate to show the world that her real self is very different to Whitney. “People need to know Shona now, and not Whitney,” her mum says. “It is so easy, after so long, to get typecast but I think people who know her…. know she is far removed from Whitney.”

In the jungle, Shona has exuded a quiet confidence as some of the more outgoing campmates have taken up the limelight. But Jennifer says that will come.

Shona is being cheered on my her mum(Image: Jennifer McGarty)

“She is a slow burner and is basically quite shy until you get to know her,” she explains. “She is not someone to push herself forward. That is not Shona.” Despite being in the public eye for so long, Shona’s feet have remained resolutely on the ground. Adapting to the huge surge of attention on her that comes from being on I’m a Celebrity has taken some getting used to.

“The fame isn’t important to Shona, it’s always been the talent and her work…..she has never been a celebrity personality,” she says. “ So this is all very new to her…and quite a difficult thing for Shona to get her head around. I don’t think she ever will.”

Her family have tried hard to maintain a sense of normality despite Shona’s surging profile on Albert Square. “It has been quite bizarre,” she admits. “But it is something we have just taken in our stride. Both girls went to ordinary schools, they did not go to stage schools. We have all managed to keep under the radar, which is how I like it.”

Jennifer laughs: “You know, it used to terrify me at auditions, because these stage school mums would turn up all singing and dancing and frighten the life out of me too.”

Shona’s childhood growing up with sister Camilla certainly prepared her for the harsh realities of life in the jungle. “She definitely is rough and tumble,” Jennifer laughs. “The stories of her childhood are nightmares. Even as a child, she used to impress all the boys at primary school by putting snails on her belly and eating worms. She was afraid of nothing, and I knew the challenges would not be a problem.”

Jennifer was with her daughter when the first call came through about the possibility of going on the hit ITV show. Mum’s reaction was instantaneous.

“It was such an amazing opportunity. And it was, ‘why can’t you do it?’ I knew she could do it.” The jungle also offers the chance to showcase Shona’s singing talent.

In fact, viewers were left staggered by her voice as she sang Tina Turner’s Proud Mary, with Martin Kemp. Jennifer remembers the exact moment she realised her daughter had something special.

Shona arriving at Brisbane airport(Image: Tim Merry/Staff Photographer)

“I realised it was in the playground in primary school when she was seven,” she says. “One of the teachers came over and said Shona had just given a rendition of Amazing Grace, which I did not even know she knew. I was thinking: ‘are you talking to me?’”

From then on, it became obvious. “She is very shy and nervous, which is natural for any performer, no matter who you are. But once she gets up there, you cannot get her off. You need a big hook to tell her time’s up. It inspires confidence in her when she sings. She is herself when singing.”

It is why Jennifer was delighted to see Shona writing and recording again. “She has been in the studio, busy,” she says. “She writes songs prolifically, and she has got lots in her book. She has got another few bits in the pipeline. So that is where she wants to go.”

And while the nation watches her daughter in camp, Jennifer is certain who Shona is pining for the most…

“I think she misses the dog Cece Bloom more than she misses us,” she laughs Named after a Bette Midler character, the dog is probably the most showbiz thing about her. Which is exactly how Shona likes it.

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