X Factor star Lucy Spraggan: ‘We need an industry shift… becoming famous overnight is a huge trauma’
X Factor star Lucy Spraggan is calling for an “industry shift” over the treatment of contestants on reality TV, labelling the resulting fame from appearing on such programmes “a huge trauma”.
The singer – who is now 31 – was just 20 years old when she appeared on the Simon Cowell talent show, and was a favourite to win, but left the competition after just a few weeks following a sexually assault.
While she withdrew from the show following the attack (for which a man – not connected with the show – was convicted and imprisoned), she has remained musically active, releasing music every two years, and now sharing her seventh album.
Making the decision to waive her anonymity (which is granted to all victims of sexual assault), Spraggan has gone on to call herself a “lucky victim,” adding: “I say I’m a lucky victim for many reasons, and one of which is to have a conviction. It’s not something that many people are afforded.”
Spraggan tells Sky News: “I am a completely different person… I’ve done a lot of healing the last 11 years”.
However, her early experiences on reality TV has inspired her to push for change. She says: “I think there needs be an industry shift in the way that we treat the mental health of participants on shows, on reality TV. Becoming famous, especially overnight, is a huge trauma. It’s really quite something.”
She says: “When I looked for the mental health help that I needed, I didn’t know where to look,” adding: “I want use my negative experience to build a better place for other people”.
She says she was inspired by the death of Love Island presenter Caroline Flack, who took her own life in 2020, to write her memoir, Process, and there is also a song about the late star on her most recent album.
A friend of Flack’s, Spraggan says: “I remember hearing that she had died and just being so overwhelmed. I wondered what protocols and what procedures were in place to help somebody who quite clearly needed help at that time.”
Spraggan on the X Factor in 2012
Spraggan also says that while she’s been fortunate enough to have a successful music career after appearing on the show, others have been less lucky, and had to return to their former jobs, which she says is “not good for a person’s well-being,” adding: “I think after being exposed to fame like that, you need a little bit of help with your self-worth and work on validation”.
The singer is calling for a mental health pension scheme to be put in place for those working on reality TV – both on and off the screen – where production companies take a percentage of their budget which is then available for staff to access for mental health resources.
When approached by Sky News, ITV said in a statement: “We’ve evolved and improved these oversight procedures since the events in question and we are encouraged to hear that Thames [the production company behind X Factor] recognises the importance of continuous review and improvement of their own processes.
“We continue to evolve our own duty of care processes on programmes we produce to ensure that there are appropriate measures in place to support contributors before, during and after filming.”
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Spraggan says she has opened up about her traumatic experiences in both her memoir and album in a bid to help others.
“I want people to see my story and say terrible things can happen, but we can get better, and we will feel better. And that’s what this whole thing is about. It’s a very positive message”.
Spraggan’s memoir, Process: Finding My Way Through, is available now, and her latest album, Balance, is released today.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK
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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