We Need To Talk with Paul C. Brunson - Tulisa: “I Sleep with a Knife!” | We’re Talking: Shocking Stories

Episode Date: August 14, 2025

Tulisa reveals the details of the most shocking chapter of her life, one that forced her to sleep with a knife for protection. She opens up about the infamous sting operation that targeted her, the shocking details of who was behind it, and how it turned her world upside down. (00:00) Intro   (00:11) Tulisa and 'The Sting'   (10:13) Love Better Tour Ad   (11:18) Who Tulisa Thinks Targeted Her   (14:07) How Was the Case Resolved?   (16:40) Life After the Court Case   Follow me here: https://www.instagram.com/needtotalk  https://www.tiktok.com/@weneedtotalkpod Follow Tulisa Here: Instagram: https://g2ul0.app.link/Cv7G7DkesPb  Sponsored by: Get Your Tickets to the Love Better Tour: https://bit.ly/lovebetter-YT  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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You talking to me? Kayak, got that right. Welcome to We're Talking. Now, here we are never short of a shocking story. And let me tell you this week, we're focusing on one of the wildest stories I've ever heard from the one and only to Lisa. So let's get into it. At this point, you leave X Factor. All right.

Fed up with show business? No. So I was actually done myself. But I was also done because I thought I can afford. to be done because I have a movie role lined up. Okay. To me, this sting could be a film by itself. This is one of the most bizarre, scary stories I've ever heard.

And I didn't even realize that coming off of X Factor, you're thinking, I have a movie role, so I'm okay. So see you late, guys. this is missing with my mental health, I'm out, I've got this opportunity. And what was the opportunity that you thought you had? I thought I had, I think it was a two million or three million pound movie role. Going to Hollywood. Go into Hollywood.

How did you find out about... With Leonardo DiCaprio, who's like my childhood crash. Really? Yeah. All right, so, now, Lisa, I'm about to ask you a million questions on this. So at what point do you, are you pitched on this presumed movie? I was approached by a big, well-known media, movie media company that everyone knows. Okay.

So not by the company direct, but they used, I don't know how they did this, if someone was paid off, but they used their Twitter account to contact me. So this is the reason from the beginning, I thought this is 100% legit. Interesting. Because the message came from, we're talking one of the biggest, probably the biggest. Absolutely. And they slid into the DMs. To the DMs.

And I will say, I mean, I've never had that level slide in, but this is how I got my first book deal. Yeah. You know, someone just literally slid in from the publisher. So a lot of businesses conducted this way. And you see that the millions and millions of followers and the verified tick. And it is to this day. I don't know how they did it through that account. And what did the message say?

I don't know exactly because it was all done through management, but it's basically. we're interested in Talisa for a movie role. We want to introduce you to these producers. Okay. So you hear about this, you're like, absolutely. Yeah, 100%. I loved acting. I loved it.

From doing dub plate drama, the early days like I spoke about would be. I just loved it. It was something I really wanted to get into. I think at times I preferred the thought of being an actress than doing what I did because I thought there'd be less drama with it. You just get to go play someone that you're not and then go back to reality.

You don't have to do this. the hoo-haha and the showbid side of things. Yeah, and I would imagine you've wanted, or you've thought about becoming an actress for a... Yeah, I loved acting as much as I loved singing when I was a kid. Okay. So it was always, they kind of, the two kind of coincided. Yeah.

All right, so they've said, okay, we've got this role for you with Leonardo DiCaprio. Yeah. Like, winning. You've already won. I've already won. And where do they want you to go at this point? So the first meeting that we had, they flew me to Las Vegas, first class, limousines, pulling up, met by assistants. That was the first time I met Nish, so that's not her real name, but a woman that played the role of Nish.

You're thinking these are producers. Yeah, movie producers. Hollywood slash Hollywood. This is going to be the first Bollywood slash Hollywood, like real commercial role. and it's going to be like, almost like a bit of a love story about this ghetto girl and the culture clashes and stuff like that. And I really needed to be this ghetto girl in the role to get the role because I wasn't experienced enough as an actress for something so big and so high-end.

The only reason I was good for this role is because I was the girl in the role, which is why it should be easy for me. and I would have Nish pulling me aside when the recorders, where the recorders are, so we'd be sat around a dinner table and then Nish would be like, let's go to the toilet. And then she'd go, listen, they're really wavering at the moment.

They want to go for like a big Hollywood actress. They're not believing that you are the girl in this role. I really need you to go out there and up the ante that you are this ghetto girl in the role. and you hear me in the space of a minute go from saying, oh, I used to get into fights and smoke a bit of weed to now. I have loads of friends with guns, and I used to shot crack, and I was literally like crazy stuff.

Because Nish is encouraging you, and she's playing on this fact that she knows you want this role. Yeah. And you need to really act the part. Yes. They showed scripts. They showed contracts. Like it was really intricate.

They had fake accountants, fake lawyers. So all of this is an act. All of this is one big act. But it now, I mean, I can admit anyone going through this, if they were you, they're thinking, okay, this is legit. Yeah. This is a role. I'm going to be paid millions of pounds.

Yeah. And as well, I didn't know it existed like the entrapment. I didn't think like that was, I know I've heard of entrapment that like, police go out and find, you know, criminals and then entrap them into doing stuff to catch them. But this scenario, why would anyone want to entrap me into drugs when I've never touched cocaine in my life? So, of course, it wouldn't even cross my mind. At what point do they then try to connect you with cocaine? kind of instant that they were making it evident that they were into drugs

so from the first meeting I remember what I said and this was my hint hint like I'm not here for it they were like I don't remember what I said I said something like yeah like the L'Oreal girl without the drugs like my way of saying not my jazz and they continue to push they continued to push they discovered that I didn't do drugs through my friends. We have the recordings. I think it was played in court, said, no, no, no, no, no.

Don't mention drugs to tea. Do not bring any drugs around her. She's like really anti-drugs. Because I had suffered with people that I cared about, like, suffering with addictions. I think initially maybe it would have been to try and catch me doing drugs. And when they realized I didn't take drugs,

then they were like, we're going to have to flip this into something else. I see. I see. So what was the something else? Concern in the selling of Class A drugs, which, of course, if I was this ghetto girl in the role that I was pretending to be, of course I'd have a telephone number somewhere. And if I didn't have this telephone number after the eighth time that they'd asked me,

how was I going to pretend that I was the girl in the role? Gotcha. So they get a phone number from you. Yeah. And that phone number leads to them being able to purchase cocaine. And they didn't just purchase cocaine. They purchased £800 pounds worth. 800 pounds of cocaine.

Yeah. Through a number that you've given. Yeah. So it's not, okay, so it's through a number that you've given. And then once that happens, when do you begin to find out this is not a movie role? This is actually a sting. I find out the day they dropped the story. I was just sat in my house and my manager came in.

And he was like, oh my God, oh my God, it's not real. None of it was real. And then he starts explaining to me what's happened. And my mind is just, you can imagine what my mind today. It's like, it is very, very difficult to comprehend. Not in a million years. Did I think that was what would,

I didn't even think that was legal to do that to people. I didn't know enough about the law at the time, shortly now. But even then, I mean, you had gone through some incredibly challenging times throughout your life, but this is unique. Yeah. Because this was a fabrication, right, and a very intricate fabrication. I mean, we're talking about the, from the beginning, from the tweet to the flight, first class flight, to the limos, to the hotels, to the meetings, multiple meetings. The account of meetings, the lawyers, the convales. contracts.

This is so, I mean, it's a film. What was the article that came out? What was, do you remember, what was it? Tolese cocaine shame. How do you feel the moment that you look at that article, you see the headline? I'm fucked. You see, if you watch the documentary, The Price of Fame, and I'm in a bathroom, crying into a camera. That's immediately after I found out.

Because I was like, I'm going to fucking expose these motherfuckers for everything that they've done. I want to document everything. I called my old cameraman. I was like, get your ass around here. Now you're going to live in this house with me. And I'm going to bring this out. I want to show everyone what these criminals are doing to me. Yes, yeah.

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right now at livenation.co.com. I can't wait to see you there. Who is the they that did this to you and why do you believe they specifically targeted you? I have multiple theories. Okay.

Some of which I couldn't disclose. Okay. Because they're that date. Wow. Is there a theory that you can disclose? I think they wanted to take me out. I think there were a lot of big wigs in the industry in general that wanted to take me out. I was way too strong for a 22-year-old female from Camden Town.

This sting cost them over like 300 grand to do in total the amount of time that spent, the actors, that everything, the flying around, of this and that someone paid for it to happen and and on top of that they tried to set me up again I was out in Dubai and there were two

princesses, Dubai princesses that were huge Talisa fans and they wanted to party with me and they were getting their assistant to make contacts with my manager to get me so they could spend the night with me and party with me and we began

I'm recording the conversations. And we hear the assistant of these princesses saying, can we bring Talisa here so we can trap so we can... He actually accidentally says so we can trap her and then corrects himself. And then we knew a Dubai royal out there. So we went to the Dubai Royal to find out if these princesses were who they say they were and they were not.

So this is how we discovered. but I was like, what are you planning to do? We're in the middle of Dubai. You know I don't do drugs. Are you going to slip something in my bag and call a Dubai police officer? And I'm in Dubai and I'm going to get the death sentence at the time. And that's when I went, these people are trying to kill me. I literally began to fear for my life.

I'm talking when I'm driving and when something like that starts to happen I'm driving in my car and I'm looking around my car checking for like tickers underneath it or someone's going to smash into me and run me off the road. It felt like some Will Smith enemy in the state shit that's what I thought I was living in.

I was like what the hell is going on? And I'm 22. Off the back of this, you're in court. Something that you just said that really hit me is that you said that your bag packed. Yeah, the pack that bloody black bag with my stuff in it every day, ready to go to. You were prepared to go to prison. I mean, yeah, as much as someone can be, I thought it's very possible. In my mind, I was like, right, well, I'm effed. I'm not going to have a career afterwards.

So how the heck can I make enough money to live off for the rest of my life? So instantly, I was researching and books are the only things. that are legal to still earn from in prison, you can still release a book and earn money from that book. This is what I read at the time. So I began writing a book. That was my preparation for going to prison because I was thinking finances. I need money when I get out and I need money when I'm in there. So I began writing a book about everything I was experiencing, but in novel form. So like first person novel form. What I keep coming back to, and I'm not trying to get you to say

something that you're not prepared to say but it seems as if hearing this there is someone or some group that wanted to take you down by any means necessary so does that entity does that person

are they still you believe a threat to you? I live like I'm still under threat to this day I mean, I've slept with a knife under my bed Pretty much feels like most of my life now I don't know what is I'm preparing for Some kind of assassination attempt I know it sounds crazy

I know it sounds crazy Quite honestly Hearing that story Yeah, it's not Because my friends don't think I'm crazy at all Because they lived it with me And they're like, hell, no, are you crazy You better get them gates up

You better get them to train security dogs in I saw you with the train dots and now it's all making sense. This is why is to protect yourself. Yeah. Like I practice archery at home. I have a bow and arrow. Like it's got to that level. But I also don't spend my life rattling around my house.

Like you know, wait for someone to cut through the door. Right. But I am prepared. If I hear a bump in the night, I'm ready to go. You're ready to go. Yeah. It's that energy. I don't live thinking about it,

but as soon as I hear a duck, I'm up. Then you're ready. You're ready. Yeah. Yeah. The case. How is the case resolved? So, while I was in the car with one of Mahmood's drivers,

who, unbeknown to me, was recording me, I had a conversation about someone very close to me and dear, and I said, they're stuck on the drugs I need to get them away from the drugs off the drugs get these bloody dealers away from my house and had this very anti-drugs conversation

where I was getting very upset and emotional about the situation and initially the driver went to the police and said I'd had this conversation and then at the last minute from this is what I've been told

I could be wrong about this but some passed away and that it It was possibly drug-related. And in a turnaround of conscience, he stepped forward to my lawyers and handed them the email that Mahmoud had sent him telling him to change his statement.

If he hadn't done that... I would be in jail because I had no defence. They'd secured that with the Nish situation. What would the sentence have been? Four years. was the four years

yeah yeah you would have been in jail yeah yeah rarely am I speechless yeah

me neither and I was speechless too is the only thing that ever made me speechless in my life I thought

I'd seen it all and when that happened it was like I have never ever heard a story like this

I was in touch of the head of Scotland yard like or not the head of Scotland yard for murder

I think that's what she covered so she covered like murder at Scotland yard. And I couldn't tell you the amount of calls I was giving her every day to say,

this is happening. These people are following me. They're not paparazzi and they're driving up behind me in the car. It's like I feel like someone is after me or someone's trying to intimidate me or giving me the feeling like they're going to try and kill me. And then for once, just once, it never happened before. My manager was out and I just decided to walk my dog. I thought it's just around the block. And I walked my dog around the block and I came back and I just moved house because I was so terrified of them following me knowing where I am and the press knowing where I live and I came back and one of the moving boxes in my house had been moved to the front of my door and the door was left wide open as if to say this is how easy it is

to get you yeah so and that continued for a long time until it stopped it just really I felt like it didn't really end for a long, long time for me. I only feel like maybe in the past six years is when I was kind of left to feel like, I've been... Yeah, you can breathe. Left a low a little bit now. And that's when I really started to heal and tried to pick up the pieces of my shattered life. Yeah.

Continually go back to is who and why. What have you done to shake up someone's world? Or what do I know? Or what do you know? You won't know. Yeah, fair. I don't want any more drama. No, no.

I was going to say, I was going to say, don't even say anything more. Leave me alone. I'm trying to mess with anybody. Let's end the interview right here. Just let me rest in my little country home. I don't want any of this. I'm good. No, no.

I would imagine you don't want any. But after that case, is this when Tile's. Lisa disappears? Yes and no. Okay. I had like a kind of immediate hold my head up high. I'm going to, I went back to X Factor as a guest judge. Okay.

I was like, I'm going to drop a single, that kind of burst moment. You know, here I am. Fuck you. Can't get me down. But after that, then the reality kind of kicks in that it's really just not that easy. Things are not the same anymore. The brands won't touch me in the same way. I'm not thought about in the same way.

This is a whole new era of my life now that I'm going to have to adapt to. Yeah. I'm sure you'll agree that the story you just heard could be a thriller. And if you'd like to hear more of Talisa's incredible story, you could check out the full episode on the We Need to Talk page, and that's wherever you watch your podcast. See you next week. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day,

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