Laura Whitmore is still "trying to navigate" the TV industry.
Laura Whitmore reflects on her TV career
The 38-year-old star has presented hit shows like 'Love Island' and 'Celebrity Juice' since winning a competition to be on MTV in 2008 and explained that even more than a decade into her career, she still finds it a "hard environment" to work in especially when she is struggling with something personal.
Speaking on the 'Spinning Plates' podcast, she told host Sophie Ellis-Bextor: "Nothing is ever as light as it seems and I've definitely come up against...even the first time I moved to London from Ireland. I'd won this competition to be on MTV and was living by myself. Or trying to find somewhere to live, going around London looking for flats and going 'This isn't as glamorous as I thought it was going to be!' And I've definitely had to...television is a great environment to work in but it's a really hard environment to work in and there is definitely ups and downs. It's about kind of finding your own voice within that space.
"I've definitely worked on live television shows where sometimes personal stuff can be really hard behind the scenes but you still have to go in and do your smile and do your job. That can be really conflicting because you feel 'This isn't how I feel right now', it's the same probably for musicians who have had something really horrible happen and they still have to go up on stage and entertain because it's not for them, it's for the audience.
"It's hard. I've constantly got these internal conversations with myself because I'll go in to do something I really don't want to do that day, but you know you have to do it. And then it makes you feel guilty because you know how lucky you are to do a job you love. It's hard. I'm still navigating this industry and finding what makes me happy, and also pushing myself."
The 'Celebrity Gogglebox' star went on to express her amazement at how she managed to go from making teas and coffees for staff in a small newsroom to suddenly winning a nationwide search for MTV and suddenly finding herself interviewing some of the world's biggest stars.
"I've definitely been in so many different situations. My background was journalism and was working in this newsroom, just interning in this radio station and found it really hard. News is...not great. If you're in that environment constantly every day and you hear bad things are happening, it does affect you. I don't think I have that ability. I was in this newsroom interviewing people like politicians before they went on air, then I entered a competition to be on MTV and I won that. So I went from being the lowest of the low in this newsroom to going off to London in the space of a month and then being sent to LA to interview Coldplay. How does the girl who makes the coffee do that? I think we were all surprised."
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