A Place in the Sun's Leah Charles King replaced co-star in previous role

express.co.uk:

A Place in the Sun late last year and has become a firm favourite on the show since.Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Leah revealed she had not only met one of her co-stars before the show but she actually replaced them in a previous job!Before going into presenting, Leah had a successful career as a singer, working with the likes of George Michael and Lionel Richie.She was also part of an R&B girl band with her cousins called Kleshay, securing two UK top 40 singles in the 90s.Speaking to Express.co.uk, Leah revealed that she actually replaced her now colleague Jean Johannson on Disney channel.She said: "I worked with Jean, actually I didn’t technically work with Jean but Jean was also a Disney presenter and when she left Disney I actually replaced her."And you know, that was 20 years ago so I knew Jean from then.She continued: "Once you're part of the Disney presenter alumni we all just kind of keep in touch."Leah has been very open about her battle with bipolar disorder and is an ambassador for Bipolar UK.She uses her presenting platform and social media pages to normalise the conversation and to end the stigma around mental illness.Leah admitted she used to be "petrified" and "ashamed" of her diagnosis and telling others about it.She said: "When I was diagnosed eight/nine years ago, I hid it."I only came out, as I call it, my big coming out, about two years ago."I couldn’t think of anything worse than bipolar because, you know, if you have anything else, people will give you sympathy and they will wrap you up in love."But when you’ve got a mental illness you are very much left alone and it’s already such a lonely condition and I just hid it."She continued: "I was hiding a big part of myself and when I came out it.