Megan McKenna

English television personality and singer

  • Television personality
  • singer
Years active2009–presentMusical careerGenres
  • Country
  • pop
Instrument(s)VocalsLabels
  • FrtyFive
  • Syco
Musical artist

Megan Elizabeth McKenna (born 26 September 1992) is an English television personality and singer. After making appearances on Ex on the Beach (2015–2016), she received wider attention for appearing on Celebrity Big Brother (2016) and The Only Way Is Essex (2016–2017). McKenna then launched her music career, releasing her debut studio album, Story of Me (2018), and she later went on to win The X Factor: Celebrity (2019). Since her win, McKenna has continued to release music, and has competed in the BBC series Celebrity MasterChef (2021 and 2022).

Early and personal life

McKenna was born on 26 September 1992 in Barking, London.[1] In her autobiography, Mouthy, McKenna revealed that she was bullied at school.[2]

In 2016, McKenna revealed that she suffers from coeliac disease.[3][2] In March 2016, she began dating The Only Way Is Essex cast member Pete Wicks, but the pair broke up in 2017.[4] She got engaged to footballer Oliver Burke in June 2023.[5] In April 2024, McKenna announced she was pregnant with their first child.[6]

In September 2023, McKenna suffered facial burns after "a freak accident" involving a jug of gravy.[7]

Career

2009–2019: Reality television and Story of Me

In 2009, McKenna reached the semi-finals of third series of Britain's Got Talent as part of the music duo Harmony.[8] In the same year, she appeared in an advertisement for the second series of The Inbetweeners.[9] McKenna appeared in an episode of The Only Way Is Essex in 2010, where she auditioned to be part of the girl group LOLA.[10] As part of LOLA, she performed at T4 Stars of 2010.[11] She also auditioned for The X Factor twice, making it to bootcamp each time.[11]

In 2015, McKenna appeared on the third series of MTV reality series Ex on the Beach.[11] She returned to the programme for the fourth series, alongside Jordan Davies.[12] She departed from Ex on the Beach early due to the death of her grandfather.[13] She went on to become a housemate in the seventeenth series of Celebrity Big Brother in 2016.[14] During her time in the house, she received a formal warning for using aggressive and threatening behaviour towards her fellow housemates.[15] She was the fourth housemate to be evicted having received the fewest votes to save, spending a total of 18 days in the house.[16] In March 2016, she joined The Only Way Is Essex as a full-time cast member.[11] In May 2017, McKenna launched her own restaurant, "MCK Grill", in Woodford Green.[17] Later in 2017, she released a range of hair extension pieces with Easilocks.[18] McKenna made her final appearance on The Only Way Is Essex on 25 October 2017, expressing an interest in focusing on her music career.[19]

McKenna performing in 2017.

In 2017, McKenna starred in her own reality series, There's Something About Megan. The series focused on McKenna travelling to Nashville to begin a career in country music.[20] The series consisted of three episodes, and aired on ITVBe.[11] After the series finale, McKenna launched her music career, releasing her debut extended play, featuring "High Heeled Shoes" and "Far Cry from Love". The two songs topped the British iTunes chart within 24 hours of their release, and on the UK Singles Chart, "High Heeled Shoes" peaked at number 43, with "Far Cry From Love" peaking at number 53.[21][22]

In December 2017, McKenna embarked on her first headlining tour to promote the release of "High Heeled Shoes", which consisted of four dates, visiting The Sugarmill, The Venue, Palace Theatre and Scala.[23] In July 2018, she supported Michael Bublé at the British Summer Time show at Hyde Park.[24][25] On 26 July 2018, McKenna released her debut autobiographical book, Mouthy, published by John Blake.[26] The book topped the Sunday Times bestseller list.[27] In August 2018, she released her debut clothing range, Studio Mouthy.[28] This accompanied her makeup range, Mouthy Cosmetics.[29] Later that month, McKenna took part in the first series of Celebs on the Farm.[30] She was eliminated second, finishing in seventh place. McKenna released her debut album Story of Me on 7 December 2018.[31] The album peaked at number four on the UK Country Chart.[32] From May 2019 to September 2019, McKenna embarked on the Story of Me Tour across the United Kingdom.[33][34] In February 2019, she participated in the sixth series of the E4 reality series Celebs Go Dating.[35]

2019–2021: The X Factor: Celebrity and other projects

From October to November 2019, McKenna competed in the ITV series The X Factor: Celebrity and was mentored by Louis Walsh.[36] For her audition, she performed "Everything but You", a song from Story of Me.[37] On 30 November, she was crowned the winner of the competition with 46.3% of the final vote, which not only gave Walsh his third overall victory of the show but also won her a record deal with Syco.[38][39]

The X Factor: Celebrity performances and results
Show Song choice Result
Auditions "Everything but You" – Original song Through to live shows
Live show 1 "This" – Original song Safe (1st)
Live Show 2 "Stronger" – Original song Safe (1st)
Live Show 3 "Half of My Heart" – Original song Safe (1st)
Live Show 4 "When I'm Crying" – Original song Safe (1st)
Semi-Final "It Must Have Been Love" – Roxette Safe (1st)
Final "One More Sleep" – Leona Lewis Safe (1st)
"This" – Original song Winner
"It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted)"

In February 2020, McKenna began recording her second studio album,[40] and later that month, it was announced that she is set to support Lionel Richie on the British leg of his 2021 tour.[41] In August 2020, McKenna released a clothing range with online retailer In The Style.[42] On 5 February 2021, McKenna announced that "This" would be released as a single on 19 February 2021.[43] In April 2021, she was announced as a contestant on the BBC competition series Celebrity MasterChef.[44] She reached the final.[45] On 28 May 2021, McKenna the song "Ruin Your Night", which was followed by "Won't Go Back Again" on 24 September 2021.[46]

In October 2021, McKenna announced the release of her second book. Titled Can You Make That Gluten Free?, the book is a gluten free recipe book inspired by her coeliac diet.[47] On 19 November 2021, McKenna released her first original Christmas song, "Family at Christmas".[48]

2022–present: Independent music

In June 2022, McKenna announced that she had left her record label. She explained that her pop music releases had been heavily influenced by them as they had preferred them to the country songs McKenna had instead wanted to release.[49] Following the departure, she announced that she would be independently releasing a song a week, beginning with the single "Baby Talk" on 24 June 2022.[50]

Also in June 2022, she performed at Glastonbury Festival, a moment she had "dreamt of" throughout her career.[51] In December 2022, McKenna appeared on Celebrity Masterchef Festive Extravaganza, which she won.[52]

Filmography

As herself
Year Title Notes
2009 Britain's Got Talent Part of music duo Harmony
2010, 2016–2017 The Only Way Is Essex Main cast
2015–2016 Ex on the Beach Series 3 main cast, Series 4 ex
2016 Celebrity Big Brother Housemate; 10th place
2017 There's Something About Megan Lead role; 3 episodes
2017, 2022 Celebability Guest appearances
2018 Celebs on the Farm Main cast; 6th place
2019 Celebs Go Dating Main cast
2019 The X Factor: Celebrity Contestant; winner
2021 Celebrity MasterChef Contestant; finalist
2022 Celebrity MasterChef Festive Extravaganza Contestant; winner

Discography

References

  1. ^ Cooper, Lucy (10 May 2019). "EVERYTHING You Need To Know About Megan McKenna". Daily Feed. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  2. ^ a b McKenna, Megan (2018). Mouthy. John Blake. ISBN 978-1786068958.
  3. ^ Hoenderkamp, Dr Renée (12 September 2017). "Everything you need to know about Megan McKenna's threatening condition". OK! Magazine. Archived from the original on 25 February 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  4. ^ "TOWIE's Pete Wicks speaks out about Megan McKenna split". Heat. 22 March 2017. Archived from the original on 25 February 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  5. ^ Hill, Rose (14 June 2023). "Megan McKenna ENGAGED as she says 'a thousand times yes' to footballer boyfriend". Daily Mirror. (Reach plc). Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  6. ^ Tonks, by Phoebe (4 April 2024). "Megan McKenna announces she's pregnant with first child with fiance Oliver Burke". OK! Magazine.
  7. ^ "Towie star Megan McKenna reveals burns caused by scalding gravy". BBC News. 21 September 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
  8. ^ Storey, Katie (25 November 2015). "Ex on the Beach's Megan McKenna auditioned for Britain's Got Talent". Reveal. Nat Mags. Archived from the original on 27 January 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  9. ^ "REVEALED: Megan McKenna starred in The Inbetweeners before TOWIE and Ex On The Beach". OK! Magazine. Archived from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  10. ^ Liam Coleman. "Who is Megan McKenna? Profile, videos, pictures and more of the Ex on the Beach star – the 2016 CBB housemates line-up". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 29 January 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  11. ^ a b c d e Bond, Kimberly. "Meet Megan McKenna - the reality star taking part in The X Factor: Celebrity". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  12. ^ "Ex On The Beach season 4 episode 4: Megan McKenna has a full-on melt down over Jordan Davies' 'pikey' ex-girlfriend Lacey Fuller". Metro. Archived from the original on 4 July 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  13. ^ "Megan McKenna posts emotional tribute to her late Grandad as fans rally to support her". OK! Magazine. Archived from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  14. ^ Percival, Ashley (5 January 2016). "'Celebrity Big Brother' Contestant Megan McKenna Was Previously A 'Britain's Got Talent' Semi-Finalist, And Also Popped Up In 'TOWIE'". The Huffington Post. AOL. Archived from the original on 9 January 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  15. ^ "CBB housemate Megan McKenna is given a formal warning after being restrained". BBC. 15 January 2016. Archived from the original on 16 January 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  16. ^ Miles, Tina (22 January 2016). "Megan McKenna EVICTED from CBB while crowd chant 'get Steph out'". Liverpool Echo. Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  17. ^ Rigney, Catriona (21 April 2017). "TOWIE's Megan McKenna reveals interior of new restaurant". OK! Magazine. Archived from the original on 23 January 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  18. ^ "Megan's Bouncy Blow". Easilocks Shop. Archived from the original on 24 February 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  19. ^ Robinson, Abby (30 November 2018). "TOWIE stars reveal why they left the show". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  20. ^ Earp, Catherine (29 June 2017). "Megan McKenna gets her own TV show: TOWIE babe heads to Nashville for new series that f". OK! Magazine. Archived from the original on 1 September 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  21. ^ Butler, Will (7 September 2017). "TOWIE's Megan McKenna has somehow beat Taylor Swift in the iTunes charts". NME. Archived from the original on 27 October 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  22. ^ "Megan McKenna". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
  23. ^ "Megan McKenna Announces A List Of UK Tour Dates After Success Of 'High-Heeled Shoes'". MTV. Archived from the original on 27 October 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  24. ^ Warner, Sam (20 April 2018). "TOWIE's McKenna supporting huge musician this summer". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  25. ^ Bird, Sophie (17 July 2018). "Exclusive Interview: Megan McKenna at BST Hyde Park". Flavour. Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  26. ^ "Megan McKenna's first book to John Blake". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  27. ^ Clarke, Sophie (6 August 2018). "Megan McKenna's Mouthy is a Sunday Times Bestseller!". Bell Lomax Moreton. Archived from the original on 1 September 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  28. ^ Geoghegan, Jill (30 July 2018). "Little Mistress launches brand for reality TV star Megan McKenna". Drapers. Archived from the original on 24 February 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  29. ^ Stiegman, Kelsey (11 November 2016). "People Are Accusing UK Celeb Megan McKenna of Copying Kylie Jenner's Lip Kits". Seventeen. Archived from the original on 24 February 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  30. ^ "TOWIE's Megan McKenna, Louie Spence, Gogglebox's Sandi Bogle and more join C5's Celebs on the Farm". Digital Spy. 16 July 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  31. ^ "Megan McKenna's honest debut album 'Story of Me' Released 7th December". Building Our Own Nashville. 6 December 2018. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  32. ^ Peak positions for albums on the Country Artists Chart in the UK:
  33. ^ Freeth, Becky (4 April 2019). "Megan McKenna works on new music in Nashville after Mike Thalassitis's death". Metro. Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  34. ^ Smith, Carl (20 August 2019). "Megan McKenna EXCLUSIVE: "My album has been like therapy"". Heat. Archived from the original on 31 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  35. ^ Warner, Sam (7 March 2019). "Celebs Go Dating's Megan McKenna fuming during awkward hungover date". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  36. ^ Duke, Simon (12 October 2019). "When is X Factor: Celebrity on? ITV show returns with star lineup". Evening Chronicle. Archived from the original on 12 October 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  37. ^ Denman, Amy (19 October 2019). "Megan McKenna says The X Factor: Celebrity is her 'biggest opportunity'". OK! Magazine. Archived from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  38. ^ Griffin, Louise (30 November 2019). "X Factor: Celebrity crowns Megan McKenna winner after epic final show". Metro. Archived from the original on 1 December 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  39. ^ "The X Factor: Celebrity voting results revealed!". ITV. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  40. ^ "Megan McKenna breaks silence on romance rumours with ex boyfriend Pete Wicks after NTAs reunion". OK! Magazine. Archived from the original on 27 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  41. ^ "Megan McKenna to tour with pop icon Lionel Richie - here's how you can get tickets". North Wales Live. Archived from the original on 27 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  42. ^ "The best bits from Megan McKenna's babein' In The Style collection". Heat. Archived from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  43. ^ @Megan_Mckenna_ (5 February 2021). "My track 'This' will be released on 19th February 🧚🏼 Click the link here to pre-order on iTunes and pre-save on Spotify/Apple. Thankyou all so much for being patient, it's an amazing feeling to finally be releasing music... it's just the beginning... 🤍" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  44. ^ Sansome, Jessica (22 April 2021). "Who is on Celebrity MasterChef 2021? The 20 celebrities who've signed up for the BBC show". Manchester Evening News. Reach plc. Archived from the original on 22 April 2021. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  45. ^ Harp, Justin (17 September 2021). "Celebrity MasterChef 2021 crowns winner after grueling three-course final". Digital Spy. (Hearst Magazines UK). Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  46. ^ Pike, Molly (17 August 2021). "Megan McKenna shows off bandaged ears after getting 'nightmare' infection". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  47. ^ "Megan McKenna's gluten-free cookbook served up by Hamlyn". The Bookseller. 11 October 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  48. ^ @megan_mckenna_ (16 November 2021). "ITS CHRISTMASSSSSSS (in my house already) PRE SAVE 'FAMILY AT CHRISTMAS' NOW!! OUT FRIDAY 🎄❤️🎄❤️🎄❤️🎄" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  49. ^ McKenna, Megan. "MUSIC NEWS 🤍". TikTok. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
  50. ^ @Megan_Mckenna_ (19 June 2022). "AM I CRAZY!? YES I AM #1SAW #countrymusic" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  51. ^ Patel, Natasha (28 June 2022). "Inside Megan McKenna's Glastonbury debut as she sports £9 Primark dress on stage". OK!. (Reach plc). Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  52. ^ Cooper, Brenna (30 December 2022). "Celebrity MasterChef crowns 2022 festive winner as Strictly, Drag Race UK and more stars compete". Digital Spy. (Hearst Communications). Retrieved 14 June 2023.

External links

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Awards and achievements
Preceded by Winner of The X Factor
2019 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
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It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted) 		Succeeded by
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