Megan McKenna Opens Up About Towie Fame, Heartbreak, and Her Courageous Journey After a Harrowing Machete Robbery

HER blazing rows and screaming meltdowns made for box office reality television.

But , 33, blames shows such as Ex on the Beach for plying her with booze — particularly Jägerbombs — which added fuel to explosive bust-ups.

Megan McKenna says seeing her old TV meltdowns is like watching a different person Credit: Channel 5 Megan has spent a decade building her country music career Credit: Splash

The Towie and Celebrity Big Brother star, who who stole her engagement ring, also claims there was no duty of care behind the scenes of the programmes she’s most famous for.

Now a and a successful country music artist, Megan has spent the last decade trying to ditch the “crazy girl” tag – but the past few years have not been without it’s hardships, with Megan recently admitting she was “terrified for her life” after a .

Speaking about her rise to fame, Megan exclusively told The Sun: “I think a lot of the shows, I was young and I was drunk, but at the time when I’m doing reality, it was so different to what reality is now.

“I don’t think a lot of the things that was allowed on the show when I was doing it would be allowed now.

“I don’t really talk about it to be honest because it’s in the past. But when you’re branded as crazy for your whole life and your whole career and every single thing you get, they’ve got this perception of you, it really does take a toll on you and it makes you paranoid, even in general life.

“When I’m at the park sometimes, I think, ‘oh God, do they think I’m this crazy? And people come up to me and they meet Landon and they say, God, you’re so lovely, you’re actually nice. And I have to stand there and I’m like, Jesus Christ, these people must think I’m like some ogre.”

Megan is a doting mum to son Landon, one Credit: instagram.com/meganmckenna Megan, pictured with ex Pete Wicks, said she will never return to Towie Credit: ITV

Though she’s grateful for the doors that her TV profile opened, she feels exploited by it too.

Megan believes her emotional state and its toxic reaction with alcohol were overlooked in order to secure dramatic footage.

“I definitely think the duty of care back in the day was just there was none,” says Megan.

“And in a weird way, I’m happy because it got me where I am. But then when I actually look back at some things, I actually feel sorry for myself because I think, God, you really was in a little trap there.

“Honestly, I’m looking at myself, 22 years old, I’m like, ‘God, they really should have pulled me out there and not really let me express myself because I was just a heartbroken girl being fed Jagerbombs. Only going to end in one way, isn’t it? It’s going to end in tears.

“Emotions are heightened. I’m on shows and being put in a room with people that are against me. It is literally a mess, but it’s TV gold.”

That version of Megan had an infamous drink-fuelled brawl with Connie Wiltshire on Ex on the Beach after learning she’d kissed her ex Jordan Davies, clashed with actor John Partridge over cleaning duties in the Big Brother House, and raged at ex-boyfriend in the street.

So wild was Megan’s behaviour, she sought anger management courses to curb her on-screen rages.

It bears zero resemblance to the calm and collected mum who lives a quiet life with her footballer husband , 29, in Berlin and makes homely cookery videos for her large Instagram following.

“Sometimes I see videos of myself and I think, firstly, I don’t even know how that was in my vocabulary,” she says.

“And I really cringe at some things. But then you just have to laugh because I’m like, OK, I was 20. I was 22. You’ve got to leave me a little bit.

“Let’s be real, I was heavily drunk on a lot of the shows I used to do. So I’m like, ‘OK, cool. I’m a different person’.”

Megan insists she hates confrontation and describes herself as the “biggest worrier” who often overthinks things.

Because of that, she insists she is “so over all of this drama” and will never return to Towie, which she quit in 2017.

“Being on them shows, being on telly, you live and breathe it. And sometimes when I see it on the telly, I think, ‘God, I honestly think I’d be full grey if I was still on them shows’. I literally would be like full head of grey.

“I’m better off. Honestly, I’m happier. I’m most happiest when I’m doing the most simple things in life, like going for walks.”

She adds: “No, I would never, ever go back in my steps.

“I respect and appreciate all the opportunities I got through Towie. But I would never go back on that show and I would never go back for a reunion or anything because I just feel like it doesn’t feel like I’m talking about myself anymore.”

Megan lives in Germany with her footballer husband Oliver Burke Credit: Instagram Megan, pictured on Ex on the Beach, said there was no duty of care when she took part in reality TV Credit: YouTube/@MTV

In September 2024, Megan swapped England for Germany when her Scottish hubby played for Bundesliga side SV Werder Bremen.

She ignored family concerns about giving birth away from home and welcomed her son in the country weeks later.

The first months of Landon’s life were admittedly lonely and Megan says she had no friends.

But just before Megan made the decision to move, she was hit be a devastating house robbery in London whilst she was home alone – something she opened up on during an interview with Jamie Laing on the Good Company podcast.

Megan, 33, explained: “I must have fallen asleep within the first 15 minutes.

“I woke up to my whole house shaking. I was such a disorientated mess.

“They were inside my house, but I lock my bedroom door every night because I always worry about something happening to me when I’m on my own.

“The next thing I know, my mirror has come off my wall, and they’re hacking a hole through my wall with a baseball bat.

“They’re three masked men with machetes and baseball bats, and they managed to hack a hole in my wall because it was a fake wall going onto my dressing room, linked to my bedroom.

“ And if my door wasn’t locked, actually, they probably would have woken me up and probably killed my dog.”

This incident is understood to have propelled Megan to speed up her move to Germany.

Eventually, Megan slowly bonded with other wives and mums and a move to Berlin, where Oliver now plays, has left her feeling more settled.

While the couple’s long-term future lies in England, Megan is enjoying life in the German capital where she can walk around largely unrecognised.

“There’s one girl I meet every week for coffee and she’s so lovely. She’s got a baby the same age as Landon.

“It’s changed my whole experience of being a new mum in Germany. You really do need to have someone apart from just your partner. I love Oli, but you need some girl time,” says Megan.

“It’s not forever and it is really beautiful living in Berlin. It’s really cool.

“They’re very wholesome out there. The food shops, the parks, the grounds, the coffee shops. Me and Oli could do three coffee shops in one afternoon. We love that.”

Megan’s troubled reality TV background will be revisited in the new music she’s been hard at work creating with esteemed writer Jin Jin, a music powerhouse who has worked with the likes of Raye and Jess Glynne.

There was no shortage of sceptics when Megan announced her intention to launch a country music career in 2017.

But her vocal and songwriting talents and steadfast self-belief quickly began to win people around.

Tracks High Heeled Shoes and Far Cry from Love topped the iTunes charts and her independently made debut album, Story of Me, reached number four in the UK Country chart.

She won the Celebrity X Factor in 2019 in a landslide and realised a long-held dream of performing at Glastonbury three years later.

But artistic differences with Simon Cowell‘s label Syco, followed by her pregnancy slowed her momentum.

She’s now ready to kickstart her music career and would love to be the UK’s answer to American female sensations Lainey Wilson and Ella Langley.

“I would like for someone to be able to listen to my song and then not know it’s me and love it. And then be like, ‘oh my God, that’s Megan McKenna’. That’s like a goal for me.

“That’s like a lifetime goal. And I know it’s going to work because I’ve been putting so much time into it. We’ve been doing this project for months and months and months.

“And I’ve been writing with some insane people. I’ve got a really strong team behind me. I’ve got a new management now.

“Just everything is new, including my life. I’m married, I’ve got Landon. It’s just so new and it’s definitely taken time to kind of get around to working and being a mum at the same time and being in the studio and then coming home and cooking.”

If confidence is the secret to success then it’s only a matter of time before Megan achieves her biggest music dreams and finally buries her old self for good.

“I really do believe in myself, honestly,” she says. “I just think there hasn’t been a UK solo country artist that has cracked through England and America with country music. I just know it’s going to be me because I believe in myself.

“I’m not giving up until I get that one hit. That’s all it takes, that one song. It takes one hit.”