Copyright walesonline
From viral TikTok videos to mainstream TV success, GK Barry seems to have boundless confidence. But the Cambridge-born influencer says she's been hiding a secret struggle with crippling anxiety. "Before uni I couldn't even get on public transport," she told the Daily Mail. "I remember the first day I went up to visit Nottingham ahead of going to university, my parents said, 'Let's get a tram.' I cried on the tram. It was tragic. I was so scared." Born Grace Keeling, part of the strategy that lets her hold her own in high-pressure environments like Loose Women and I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! is her GK Barry persona. Her stage name is made up of her own initials alongside the surname of her best friend, Tatiana Barry. "Social interaction gives me anxiety, but when I go into a place as GK Barry I can just switch on the confidence," she explains. He stage name gave her "a lot more confidence" when she first starting posting her TikTok videos about life in lockdown, chaotic family moments and misadventures with crushes. "I didn't really know myself as much and was definitely worried about what other people thought of me," she recalls. "I quite like having a different name, because it also gives me a little bit of an alter-ego to have a little bit more confidence when I do shows." At the time she was working at her local Costa Coffee and finishing a film studies degree at Nottingham Trent University. Within a year of posting her first clip, she had over a million followers. Grace's next move was to launch. Her podcast, Saving Grace, where she interviews the likes of Gogglebox's George Baggs and football star Ella Rutherford – who is coincidentally Grace's girlfriend. Grace, 26, says that being in a relationship with Ella has also helped build her confidence: "She really loves me. "I'd never dated a woman before and was really anxious to hold her hand in public. But Ella is like, 'Who cares what people think?' I'm definitely more confident now in that respect." Grace admits that she was "so scared" before going into the I'm A Celebrity jungle: "My acne was bad then and I thought viewers would be going, 'Oh my God, look at her skin.'" But in fact, she told The Times, she had nothing but positive responses: "Afterwards mums would come up and thank me for normalising acne for their teenage daughters. I do love mums."
