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Perrie Sian is perhaps one of the most popular organic influencers in the UK, and she's only gone from strength to strength. After building her social media presence during covid, it was a quick turnaround for Perrie to team up with InTheStyle, before ultimately working on her own project with former InTheStyle founder, Adam Frisby, as the pair launched their own brand, Reasn.

But Perrie's life wasn't always the glamorous, successful and influential picture we now see on Instagram. Before she became an influencer, she was riddled with debt, which is something she initially kept a secret from all her loved ones while she climbed her way back out. Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Perrie opened up about it, admitting she's "really proud of the journey" she's navigated to get herself to where she is now.

Perrie said: "Debt is a real thing, and I think that it is not spoken about enough, people aren't educated on it enough. I have an amazing support system, but my parents didn't come from a place of financial success. I made a lot of bad decisions when I was younger, I took out payday loans, and truthfully, those loans came from trying to keep up with a lifestyle that I didn't have.

"I was trying to go on these lavish trips, nights out, pressure from people around me, but I wasn't able to fund it." Perrie explained that at one point, she worked three jobs just trying to keep up with it all. She continued: "I saw an ad for a payday loan, and another one, and another one, and before I knew it, I was having to contact a debt consolidation company to help me pay these debts off."

She admitted that nobody in her life knew what she was dealing with at the time, and she felt she couldn't get any help, but she educated herself and ended up consolidating her loans and got an extra job to pay for them. Perrie added: "I worked every hour I possibly could, and every month a certain amount of money would leave my bank account to pay all these loans off. I still have every email from companies chasing me for payments and I often look back on them and think, how did I go from that to where I am now?"

Perrie has spoken about her experience with debt via her online channels and she admitted that she's proud she's in a position to do so, adding that when you're going through it, it felt "embarrassing" to talk about. But she vowed to keep talking about it as she wants to use her experience to help other people.

Despite then moving her career into influencing, which puts her in an environment where she may be encouraged to spend more, Perrie proudly said that her previous experience had taught her so much that she knew she wouldn't fall back into bad habits. She said: "I became really responsible, I felt like I had learned a very important lesson, and I remember when I paid off that final instalment, the relief I felt that I had finally got my life back, the pressure had gone. I was never going to put myself in that position again.

"I wanted to create content, I wanted to be able to give people amazing value around outfits, but from the beginning I knew I was never going to risk putting myself in any position like that again. I now would never buy or do anything beyond my means, I learned the hard way the first time."

Perrie's life has now changed so much, with followers who have supported her filter-free videos from the beginning, from her gorgeous clothing hauls to her incredibly popular Primark series - which has now seen her grow even further to have her own collection, Perrie's Primark Picks, in the store.

Now, Perrie runs her own clothing business with Adam Frisby, Reasn, which Perrie has admitted comes with "challenges", but she said: "Nothing outweighs how incredible the feeling is when you see people loving your brand, wearing your brand, wanting to be a part of it. Me and Adam both have super supportive communities, they've shown up for us so much, and we're so grateful for that."

She added: "We worked so hard over the last 12 months to ensure we could throw everything at it. On launch night, we generated over a million pounds worth of sales in 30 minutes. It's a total recognition of how supportive and loyal our audience are.

"I've been on such a journey that's got me to where I am now, for a new brand to do this is so incredible, I just feel really grateful."

Her success doesn't stop there, and Perrie also declared that she would love to one day take part in a fun TV show, such as I'm A Celeb, she said: "That show holds a really special place in my heart, it's my family's number one favourite show and I think it's a show where you really get the opportunity to grow as a person. I feel like those challenges would be good for me physically and mentally."