Lucy Spraggan reveals she quit X Factor after being raped
Former X Factor contestant Lucy Spraggan has revealed she left the ITV talent show after being raped.
The singer – who had been a favourite to win in 2012 – suddenly quit the show during its live rounds, with programme-makers telling the public her departure was due to “illness”.
But the 31-year-old has now waived her legal right to anonymity, which is granted to all rape victims, to speak out about her ordeal.
Spraggan was 20 years old at the time of the attack, which she said was carried out by a hotel porter following a night out with fellow contestants.
In the aftermath, she was advised to take medication to prevent HIV infection – but it made her so ill she was forced to leave the X Factor, which was won that year by James Arthur.
The singer said she had wanted to go public at the time, but was warned it might affect her future career.
Spraggan later went on to have success in the music industry with two top-10 albums. Her release Join The Club reached seven in the charts in 2013, while Choices peaked at number five in 2021.
But she said she was tired of not being honest with fans and wanted to speak out now because “in order for me to rebuild myself and move on, I needed to tell the truth”.
Detailing the rape in her new memoir, Process: Finding My Way Through, the singer said she had earlier been on a night out in London celebrating fellow contestant Rylan Clark’s 25th birthday at Mayfair nightclub Mahiki.
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But, after being given free alcohol, she fell unconscious and was escorted back to her hotel by a member of the production team, where a porter offered to help get her to her room.
Clark then came to her room to check she was OK and make sure the room was locked, Spraggan said.
However, the porter later returned with a keycard to unlock the door and attack her.
She wrote: “I woke up the next day with this sense of sheer dread. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that level of confusion since.
“I knew that I’d been raped, but I could not process that. So I put my clothes on and went into autopilot.”
The production team quickly called the police and an arrest was made within hours.
The hotel staffer later pleaded guilty and was jailed.
‘No one ever asked if I was OK’
Spraggan said she felt let down by programme-makers and accused them of being “unprepared” to deal with what happened.
She received both financial and medical support in the immediate aftermath, but said she was not given any further support after her attacker was convicted.
Writing in her memoir, Spraggan said: “No one ever contacted me to ask if I was OK.
“No one called or emailed when the trial was over and he was convicted. No one offered me rehabilitation or ongoing mental health treatment. I was on my own.”
She also told the Guardian: “It was inappropriate for anybody – including contestants – to be drunk.
“How can you fulfil your duty of care when free alcohol is involved?”
Spraggan is the latest in a string of ex-reality TV stars, including former X Factor singer Rebecca Ferguson, to express concern about the treatment of contestants.
Simon Cowell said what happened to Spraggan was ‘horrific and heartbreaking’
X Factor creator Simon Cowell, who was absent from 2012 series because he was filming America’s Got Talent in the US, said in a statement: “What happened to Lucy was horrific and heartbreaking.
“When I was given the opportunity to speak to Lucy, I was able to personally tell her how sorry I was about everything she has been through.
“Although we met under tragic circumstances, a genuine friendship and a mutual respect has developed between us. Lucy is one of the most authentic, talented, and brave people I have ever met.
“Since we connected, I have had the honour to work with Lucy and I have always supported her wish to tell her story, as well as her efforts to bring about positive change.”
‘We are extremely sorry’
A spokesperson for Fremantle, the British TV company that produced The X Factor for ITV, said: “To our knowledge, the assault was an event without precedent in the UK television industry.
“Whilst we believed throughout that we were doing our best to support Lucy in the aftermath of the ordeal, as Lucy thinks we could have done more, we must therefore recognise this.
“For everything Lucy has suffered, we are extremely sorry. Since then, we have done our very best to learn lessons from these events and improve our aftercare processes.
“Whilst we have worked hard to try and protect Lucy’s lifetime right to anonymity, we applaud her strength and bravery now that she has chosen to waive that right.”
Angelina Jolie says although she appreciates being an artist, she would prefer for her legacy to be “a good mother” and to be known for her “belief in equality and human rights”.
The Oscar-winning actress stars as Maria Callas in the new Pablo Larrain film about the opera singer’s life.
Pic: StudioCanal
She has called Maria “the hardest” and “most challenging” role she has had in her career and put months of preparation into immersing herself into the world of opera.
Jolie, who recently reached a divorce settlement with actor Brad Pitt, told Sky News: “To be very candid, it was the therapy I didn’t realise I needed. I had no idea how much I was holding in and not letting out.
“So, the challenge wasn’t the technical [side of opera], it was an emotional experience to find my voice, to be in my body, to express. You have to give every single part of yourself.”
The biopic combines the voice of the Maleficent actress with recordings of Maria Callas.
Jolie believes it “would be a crime to not have [Callas’] voice through this because, in many ways, she is very present in this film”.
Who was Maria Callas?
Born in New York in 1923, Maria Callas was the daughter of Greek immigrants who moved back to Athens at the age of 13 with her mother and sister.
After enrolling at the Athens Conservatory, she made her professional debut at 17 and went on to become one of the most famous faces of opera, travelling around the world and performing at Covent Garden in London, The Met in New York and La Scala in Milan.
Callas’s final operatic performance took place at Covent Garden in 1965 when she was 41 but she continued to work conducting master classes at Juilliard School, doing concert tours and starring in the 1969 film Medea.
Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, Maria focuses on the artist’s final years in the 1970s when she moved to Paris and disappeared from public view.
She died on 16 September 1977 at the age of 53.
Pic: StudioCanal
Jolie on changing motivations as an actor
Maria follows the life of an artist fully consumed by the art she creates and even remarks that “happiness never developed a beautiful melody”.
Reflecting on her own life in the spotlight, Jolie said she noticed her own career motivations change over the years.
“There’s this kind of study of being human that we do when we create, and we communicate with an audience because our work is not in isolation – it’s a connection.
“I think when I was younger, I had different questions about being human and different feelings and now as I’ve gotten older, I understand some things and now I have different questions.
“It’s a matter of life, right? And so maybe that’s interesting that this now is a character really contemplating death and really contemplating the toll of certain things in life that I, of course, couldn’t have understood in my 20s”.
Jolie at the New York Film Festival in September with three of her children (L-R) Pax, Zahara and Maddox. Pic: AP
A family affair
Two of Jolie’s children, Maddox and Pax, took on production assistant roles during the filming of Maria and witnessed their mother perform opera for the first time in public.
She says the film allowed them to create new experiences together and for her children to see her approach to playing a difficult role.
“Everyone in my home, we all give each other space to be who we are and we’re all different.
“I’m the mom, but I’m also an artist and a person and so my family has been very kind and gives me their understanding. They make fun of me, and they support me and just as you’d hope it would be.”
She adds: “When you play somebody who is dealing with so much pain, it’s very important to come home to some kindness.”
Maria is in cinemas now.
Tom Holland’s dad has confirmed his son’s engagement to Zendaya – revealing how the 28-year-old meticulously planned the proposal.
Zendaya, also 28, sparked engagement rumours when she attended last Sunday’s Golden Globes wearing a sparkling diamond on her ring finger.
Neither star has publicly addressed the rumours but Tom’s comedian father, Dominic Holland, has now confirmed the pair are set to wed.
He wrote in a post on his Patreon account: “Tom, as you know by now was very incredibly well prepared. He had purchased a ring.
“He had spoken with her father and gained permission to propose to his daughter.”
“Tom had everything planned out… When, where, how, what to say, what to wear,” he added.
Zendaya arrived at the Golden Globes with a noticeable piece of new jewellery. Pic: Invision/AP
Dominic also noted that while most men worry about being able to afford an engagement ring, he suspects his actor son was “more concerned with the stone, its size and clarity, its housing, which jeweller”.
Tom and Zendaya met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2016, when they played the titular hero and his love interest MJ, respectively. Their romance was confirmed in 2021.
In his post, Tom’s father admitted fears over whether being in the spotlight could put a strain on the couple’s relationship.
He wrote: “I do fret that their combined stardom will amplify their spotlight and the commensurate demands on them and yet they continually confound me by handling everything with aplomb.”
“And even though show business is a messy place for relationships and particularly so for famous couples as they crash and burn in public and are too numerous to mention […] yet somehow right at the same time, I am completely confident they will make a successful union.”
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Zendaya rose to fame after landing a role in Disney sitcom Shake It Up, and became a household name after starring in Euphoria.
Holland – who has starred in three Spider-Man films opposite his now-fiancée – made his stage debut in Billy Elliot the Musical in 2008.
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