Megan McKenna exclusive on break up and TOWIE drama

EXCLUSIVE: 'I went back to not a very nice place in my life': Megan McKenna reveals she used her brief split from Pete Wicks as inspiration for song... and admits she 'didn't really speak to the new girls' on TOWIE

Published: 17:19 BST, 29 August 2017 | Updated: 21:28 BST, 29 August 2017

She's the gorgeous reality star who made a name for herself 'losing it' on Ex On The Beach, before starring in The Only Way Is Essex.

But Megan McKenna has exclusively revealed to MailOnline that she has a 'softer side' to her, and she used her brief split from TOWIE co-star Pete Wicks as inspiration behind a song she penned while out in Nashville.

Talking to MailOnline, Megan, 24, revealed more went on behind the scenes in TOWIE than what was televised, and admitted that when filming scenes for the latest season, she 'didn't really speak to the new girls'.

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Telling all: Megan McKenna has exclusively revealed to MailOnline that she used her brief split from TOWIE co-star Pete Wicks as inspiration behind a song she penned while out in Nashville

Talking about her new show, There's Something About Megan, which documents her journey to Nashville, Tennessee, in a bid to launch a career in country music, Megan divulged the inspiration behind the song she wrote with world-class songwriters.

'I wanted to write a song about when you love someone but they’re the problem basically,' she started.

'I went back to not a very nice place in my life when I was going through a break up and I kind of explained it all.'

'I went back to not a very nice place in my life when I was going through a break up and I kind of explained it all': Megan admitted that she wanted to reveal her side of the story when going through her break up with Pete

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Discussing what she meant by explaining herself, Megan admitted that she wanted to reveal her side of the story when going through her break up with Pete.

'You guys have just seen me on telly [on TOWIE] losing it, going mad when I’ve had a break up, but no one saw the softer side of me with the break up, and I wanted to put that in the song.

'I really feel like it was a good way of explaining it.'

Other side to the story: 'You guys have just seen me on telly [on TOWIE] losing it, going mad when I’ve had a break up, but no one saw the softer side of me with the break up'

Megan and Pete briefly split in March this year, after their relationship hit a tumultuous patch when she discovered conversations of a sexual nature Pete had with his ex-girlfriends on his phone.

However, the pair recently rekindled their romance, and appear stronger than ever.

Discussing TOWIE, the show which arguably made her name, Megan admitted that she hadn't formed a close friendship with newcomers Ruby Lacey and Maddie Hooper.

'I didn’t really speak to the new girls, I don’t really know them.'

Rocky patch: Megan and Pete briefly split in March this year, after their relationship hit a tumultuous patch when she discovered conversations of a sexual nature Pete had with his ex-girlfriends on his phone

'I didn’t really speak to the new girls, I don’t really know them': Discussing TOWIE, Megan admitted that she hadn't formed a close friendship with newcomers Ruby Lacey and Maddie Hooper

The girls are best pals with Georgia Kousoulou, who famously took the side of Chloe Sims with her boyfriend Tommy Mallet when they decided that Megan was treating her unfairly.

Chloe had found herself in hot water over her close friendship with Pete, which Megan found inappropriate given their recent break up, and had accused the pair of getting together illicitly behind her back.

Megan and Pete have now worked through the drama, although a slightly bitter Chloe recently hit out at the pair and branded them 'toxic'.

Former friends: Chloe Sims (L) had found herself in hot water over her close friendship with Pete, which Megan found inappropriate given their recent break up, and had accused the pair of getting together illicitly behind her back

Megan was keen to stress that this season on TOWIE, she is keen to move away from the drama and the divides that separated the friendship groups of last season.

'I think there’s always gonna be some divides, cos it’s TOWIE and it’s drama. That’s Essex for you – not everyone gets on.

'I don’t want to have any drama, I don’t want to have any agg with people, so I’m keeping myself to myself and focusing on my career.'

But the beauty admitted that her new desire to keep away from drama was not shared by the rest of the cast.

Over the drama: 'I don’t want to have any drama, I don’t want to have any agg with people, so I’m keeping myself to myself and focusing on my career'

'I think some of the cast get really sucked into it and still want to carry the dramas on, a lot of the cast want to carry it on.

'Me, Pete and Amber, we just don’t wanna [get involved in the drama].

'We’re really good friends with Jack and Jordan and Dan and Diags, and I think we all get on on a night out, so why do we want to drag up s*** from old arguments with other people?

'So we choose not to talk about it.'

Moving away from it: 'I think some of the cast get really sucked into it and still want to carry the dramas on, a lot of the cast want to carry it on'

And it appears that Megan has made progress, as she revealed that she is now 'civil' with her former best friend Chloe Meadows, who she fell out spectacularly with around the same time as her split from Pete.

But Megan admitted that she found having a relationship with Pete in the public eye difficult at times, and she had to be strong to deal with it.

'I think relationships in the public eye are always gonna be difficult. Because it’s a lot of pressure, not just from filming with people all the time, it’s all the online stuff, people commenting and getting involved.

'It’s a lot harder having your relationship in the public eye. We’ve just got to try and ignore the comments basically.'

'We’ve just got to try and ignore the comments': But Megan admitted that she found having a relationship with Pete in the public eye difficult at times, and she had to be strong to deal with it

Discussing her new foray into country music, Megan revealed she is worried about how the public may perceive her.

'I think people in the UK have seen me going on all these different shows, and I think they think "oh, she just wants to be a singer all of a sudden".

'But this is something I’ve wanted my whole life. This is gonna make people realise that I’ve worked my whole life for this.'

And despite her worries about how the US audience would react to her, Megan had nothing to worry about.

'My biggest fear was that they wouldn't accept me because I’m from Essex. But they loved it, they loved the fact that I wanted to learn more about country music and bring it back to the UK.

Concerns: 'I think people in the UK have seen me going on all these different shows, and I think they think "oh, she just wants to be a singer all of a sudden"'

'That just doesn’t seem to happen here – you don’t get an Essex girl doing country music, hopefully I can be the first one to do that.'

Despite country music seeming incongruous to an Essex girl, Megan said that she had always been a fan of the genre, and after struggling to land a place at a musical theatre audition, she was inspired to try it out after being told by an American judge that her voice 'sounded too country'.

'I started to go to auditions singing more country based music, and people started to really like my voice, so I really started to find my way.

'I've always said to my mum "we need to go to Nashville", but when I was younger we couldn’t afford just to fly out to Nashville.

'I was just waiting for that moment, and now that moment has happened, I’ve been able to work with amazing people and they have really made me feel like I’m welcome in their community.'

Ambition: 'You don’t get an Essex girl doing country music, hopefully I can be the first one to do that'

And the hardest moment of going out to the Deep South was when Megan 'had to muck out sheep s***' in a segment of the show inspired by Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie's The Simple Life.

'I went out there and lived on a farm basically. It’s not for me, I was terrible, I was doing it wrong. I had to muck out sheep s***.

'It was disgusting, it stunk, I got it all on my shorts. It was just a nightmare. But thinking back on it I just think when would I ever get to do that. I got to meet all these crazy animals I would never get to stand in a barn with.'

However, she was adamant that despite her new career, she wouldn't shy away from reality TV, after becoming a regular face on the reality circuit, and has bigger ambitions.

'I think reality TV will always be in my life. I think I’m good at reality TV. I want to be able to do everything.'