JOURNALIST Julia Hartley-Brewer has confessed she once lived in a squat and had to beg for 40p for a tube fare.
The successful TalkRadio breakfast show host revealed she once struggled to make ends meet before her rise to fame - but said she never "had a sense of hopelessness".
In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Julia, 52, described her financial struggles after moving to London to begin her career in journalism.
She began her career in newspapers at the East London Advertiser in Bethnal Green - before working as a reporter for the Evening Standard and later the Guardian.
Julia said: "After university, I did some unpaid work experience at The Times newspaper.
"I had nowhere to live and no income, so I moved into a squat in the East End of London and ate a lot of rice, pasta and tinned tomatoes.
"Once, I was 40 pence short of the Tube fare, so I stood at the station and asked people for money so I could afford to get on the train.
"I didn't find it humiliating – I just accepted that was what I needed to do to get where I wanted to be."
I always knew deep down that I'd be OK. I didn't have a sense of hopelessness.
Julia Hartley-Brewer on her money struggles in her first jobJulia went to work at a local newspaper in London in the 1990s, where she earned £9,000 - which she said could be a "struggle" to live on in the capital.
She added: "Even in the 1990s, that was still not a lot of money. It was a struggle. I used to walk everywhere because I couldn't afford public transport.
"I had no spare cash and still had college debts to pay off. But I always knew deep down that I'd be OK. I didn't have a sense of hopelessness."
Julia went on to find national fame as a journalist as her career soared - moving to the Sunday Express as political correspondent in 2000 and working her way up to Political Editor before leaving in 2011.
She joined TalkRadio in March 2016, presenting the weekday radio show from 10am to 1pm and then the breakfast show from 6:30 to 10am from January 2018.
Since finding fame, Julia said that the last year was the most successful of her financial life, but credited her early experiences for learning a vital lessons about money.
She added: "I spend a lot of money on things I value, but I will never waste even 20 pence on something I don't need."
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Julia now owns a three-bedroom flat in North London which she shares with her husband and 13-year-old daughter.
Asked what she would do as Chancellor, she urged the government to prioritise building affordable housing for Brits going forward.
The broadcaster said: "I think we need to build two million more homes immediately.
"We need to get more people into their own homes. Overnight it would revolutionise our country."
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