Emily Atack says she has experienced “stigma” because of her past work with “lads’ mags” — but loves to challenge people’s preconceptions through her comedy writing.
The actress and comic, 30, was a runner-up in 2018’s series of I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! and is set to embark on her second comedy tour later this year.
Atack told Insider that she has had to reinvent herself after being known as “the FHM pin-up from The Inbetweeners” and “treated like the dumb blonde in the corner”.
“People probably assume that I’m a certain type of person because — and this is such a terrible thing — we are discriminated against as sexy, glamorous women who have posed in lads’ mags,” she said.
“People don’t think that women like that are capable of writing.
“I really wanted to break that and show that I’m a bright woman and I’ve got a lot to talk about. I love making people laugh and I’ve got so much more to offer than people maybe thought I did.”
Atack, whose tour Emily Atack Has Left The Group is due to start in September, conceded it felt “very strange” to announce new dates amid the coronavirus outbreak.
“The last thing you want is for people to think that you’re not taking into account everything that’s going on,” she said. “We thought long and hard about it.
“Hopefully the coast is clear by then and people may be desperate to get out and do something fun again.”
Atack said that writing material for the tour felt like “a therapy session”.
Her co-writer Steve Dunn, who also works with Joel Dommett, has “become a weird sort of therapist” for her as they “sit for hours talking about everything I’ve done … He knows all my secrets, my God!”
Emily Atack Has Left the Group Tour tickets are available now at LiveNation.co.uk
