Alison Hammond used to live in her £1,000 overdraft "every single month" before finding fame.
The ‘This Morning’ roving reporter – who shot to fame on the third series of ‘Big Brother’ in 2002 – used to be delighted when her "bank balance would say zero", and she now believes money can’t "truly make you happy".
Speaking to Metro.co.uk, she explained: "It’s a funny question, I mean what do we need money for really, truly in life? We need it for shelter, we need it for food, for clothes – that’s all we really need money for.
"So now I am like, ‘Oh I’m not bothered about money,’ but back in the day I was bothered about money, everything was surrounded by money and I wanted to make money.
"Now that I have money, it’s a weird one. Now I realise it wasn’t really that important. There’s no amount of money that will ever truly make you happy."
Alison also shrugged off the importance of "possessions", and insisted real joy comes from "relationships", enjoying work and not being "bored in your life".
She added: "You can have money but you can be really sad and lonely and not happy at all, but ultimately I think money is obviously important it controls how you live your life, it controls what opportunities you can give to your children, it means you’re not going to be destitute.
"So obviously money is important but ultimately relationships with your family is more important. I always say to the youngsters nowadays, go and buy an experience rather than buy a thing, don’t buy things, save and buy an experience, just go and enjoy your life because they’re memories that you’ll keep forever."
Alison Hammond opens up about former money issues
