I was on CBB – soap legend co-star changed my life and helped me land biggest TV role of my career, says Jess Impiazzi
SHE struck up a surprise friendship in the Celebrity Big Brother house with a soap legend 54 years her senior.
And Jess Impiazzi, 34, credits Coronation Street icon Amanda Barrie, 88, with changing her life and giving her the confidence to land the biggest acting role of her career.
Harry Potter super-fan and trained actress Jess realised a dream when she starred in a BBC adaptation of J.K. Rowling novel Strike in 2022.
There was a touch of destiny about the whole thing as Jess starred as Gloria Conti in three episodes, having learned her craft at the similarly named prestigious Italia Conti performing arts school.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun on behalf of Heart Bingo, Jess said: "I love Amanda Barrie. She became my best friend in there. I think I was 28 and she was 82 and we were best friends. She was like an idol to me. She's been in theatre and television her whole life and that's what I wanted to do, that's what I trained to do. I had full scholarships to the top theatre schools in London and that's all I wanted.
"But I thought I'd ruined it and I lost all my self confidence. Amanda sat me down and said 'you keep going. You keep going for it.' So, for me, Big Brother helped me get that confidence back because I met the likes of Amanda Barrie.
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"Without her, I don't think I'd have had the strength to go back to my adult acting classes to get back into what I wanted to do. From when I was in the womb I was wanting to act. I came out singing and dancing and acting so for me it gave me that confidence.
"I've not stopped. I've continued. I did the BBC's Strike, written by J.K. Rowling. Massive Harry Potter fan, so that was like a dream come true and I won't stop, I'll keep going and just keep ploughing along."
Jess's series of CBB was dubbed the Year of the Woman, which celebrated strong female characters and, as a result, had a gravitas that other series' lacked.
Joining her and Amanda in the house were Boris Johnson's sister Rachel Johnson, former MP Ann Widdecombe and series winner drag queen Courtney Act.
And though she didn't win, fourth placed Jess had the distinction of being the only contestant not to reveal single nomination on her way to the final.
Revealing how she managed the feat, she said: "I don't like confrontation. I'd rather just get on with everyone. Unless someone's really coming for you, which you'd have to defend yourself, but I don't like to get in that space.
"I like to be friendly with everyone. I think everyone has a better day when everyone is friendly with everyone and, besides, if there was any controversy, I'm like Homer Simpson going through the hedge, out of there [laughs]."
Just as Jess's TV career was on the up she was diagnosed with lupus last year and was so sick that at one point she thought she was going to die.
Since that lowest point she has battled to some semblance of normality and is now on medication that's keeping the condition's symptoms at bay.
"I was really really sick," she said. "There was one point when I thought my time is up. I couldn't move my entire body. I couldn't even take myself to the bathroom. My fingers and joints, every symptom of lupus hit me at once. I was covered in rashes, my whole face my chest. I was really unwell and I'm still on a lot of medication.
"I'm back on a higher steroid dose which I can't be on forever, like a miracle cure, but unfortunately you can't be on it forever because it turns off your immune system. It's a bit of a puzzle lupus. Some medications work for some, some don't. We're just still figuring it out. It can take years to get that right."
While the disease never goes away, it can go into, and stay in, remission, which Jess is hopeful hers will do.
One thing Jess's future won't include is more reality TV. She described herself as an "oversharer" and said she "freaks out" when she revealing too much.
Though she'd make an exemption for Strictly Come Dancing as dance puts her mind at peace.
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She joked: "I'll be knocking at their door saying 'please pick me, I love dancing'."
