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
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Joy star James Norton on the ‘postcode lottery’ of IVF – and playing the scientist who was part of creating the first ‘test-tube baby’
Actor James Norton, who stars in a new film telling the story of the world’s first “test-tube baby”, has criticised how “prohibitively expensive” IVF can be in the UK.
In Joy, the star portrays the real-life scientist Bob Edwards, who – along with obstetrician Patrick Steptoe and embryologist Jean Purdy – spent a decade tirelessly working on medical ways to help infertility.
The film charts the 10 years leading up to the birth of Louise Joy Brown, who was dubbed the world’s first test-tube baby, in 1978.
In the UK, statistics show the proportion of IVF cycles paid for by the NHS has dropped from 40% to 27% in the last decade
Norton, who is best known for playing Tommy Lee Royce in the BAFTA-winning series Happy Valley, told Sky News he has friends who were IVF babies and other friends who have had their own children thanks to the fertility treatment.
“But I didn’t know about these three scientists and their sacrifice, tenacity and skill,” he said. The star hopes the film will be “a catalyst for conversation” about the treatment and its availability.
“We know for a fact that Jean, Bob and Patrick would not have liked the fact that IVF is now so means based,” he said. “It’s prohibitively expensive for some… and there is a postcode lottery which means that some people are precluded from that opportunity.”
Bill Nighy, Thomasin McKenzie and James Norton star in Joy. All pics: Netflix/ Kerry Brown
Now, IVF is considered a wonder of modern medicine. More than 12 million people owe their existence today to the treatment Edwards, Steptoe and Purdy worked so hard to devise.
But Joy shows how public backlash in the years leading up to Louise’s birth saw the team vilified – accused of playing God and creating “Frankenstein babies”.
Bill Nighy and Thomasin McKenzie star alongside Norton, with the script written by acclaimed screenwriter Jack Thorne and his wife Rachel Mason.
The couple went through seven rounds of IVF themselves to conceive their son.
Norton portrays scientist Bob Edwards, while McKenzie plays embryologist Jean Purdy
While the film is set in the 1970s, the reality is that societal pressures haven’t changed all that much for many going through IVF today – with the costs now both emotional and financial.
“IVF is still seen as a luxury product, as something that some people get access to and others don’t,” said Thorne, speaking about their experiences in the UK.
“Louise was a working-class girl with working-class parents. Working class IVF babies are very, very rare now.”
In the run-up to the US election, Donald Trump saw IVF as a campaigning point – promising his government, or insurance companies, would pay for the treatment for all women should he be elected. He called himself the “father of IVF” at a campaign event – a remark described as “quite bizarre” by Kamala Harris.
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Bill Nighy ‘proud’ of new film on IVF breakthrough
“I don’t think Trump is a blueprint for this,” Norton said. “I don’t know how that fits alongside his questions around pro-choice.”
Read more:
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In the UK, statistics from fertility regulator HEFA show the proportion of IVF cycles paid for by the NHS has dropped from 40% to 27% in the last decade.
“It’s so expensive,” Norton said. “Those who want a child should have that choice… and some people’s lack of access to this incredibly important science actually means that people don’t have the choice.”
Joy is in UK cinemas from 15 November, and on Netflix from 22 November
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