X Factor star looks drastically different 15 years on from her reality TV show days as she sports cropped style while promoting her latest project

X Factor star Mary Byrne looked almost unrecognizable as she promoted her latest project – 15 years after starring in the talent show.

The Irish singer, 65, first gained recognition in 2010 when she impressed then-X Factor judges Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Cheryl and Katy Perry during her audition with an incredible rendition of Tom Jones’ I Who Have Nothing.

Despite wowing the crowd week after week, she did not win and finished in fifth place.

These days, the former Tesco employee has long since left her dark brown locks and bangs behind and now sports a white blonde cropped hairstyle.

Although singing is still her passion, Mary has explored other avenues as she recently embarked on a new career and is now a podcaster, having launched The Wise Owl Wans Podcast with Irish actress and writer Eilish O’Carroll, 72, in October.

In the podcast, billed as ‘the banter of two legendary Irish women who’ve been through it all’, Mary and Eilash talk about love, life and family.

Just a few weeks ago, Mary looked fantastic in a pink animal print top with a side crop as she spoke about a new episode of the show.

Meanwhile, the Ballyfermot-born performer is now a Panto star, with Mary recently taking to the stage as the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella at Dublin’s Liberty Panto.

Mary, with wavy pink hair, a dramatic white ruffled dress and a huge wand, looked in her element as she got into character for promotional images for the performance.

If panto and podcasting weren’t enough, Mary also took her talents on the road with a nationwide tour of Ireland of her one-woman show, Check Me Out – where she entertained fans with an evening of songs and stories.

Mary’s impressive career over the years has also seen her performing on Mediterranean cruises with Cliff Richard.

While he also starred in Menopause: The Musical alongside Linda Nolan.

Mary’s X Factor series Famous was the year in which One Direction was founded, with Matt Cardle taking the title.

The star recently made headlines when she paid a touching tribute to One Direction’s Liam Payne and opened up about how she found it difficult to ‘come to terms’ with his tragic death.

Liam plunged into the courtyard of the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires from the third floor in October at the age of 31.

Mary, who reached the semi-finals of the ITV show while One Direction finished third, revealed she last spoke to Liam in 2018 and during their chat he told her about his struggles with fame.

She told me The sun: ‘I wouldn’t say fame wasn’t for him, but I would say they got way too big, way too fast, they literally burned out after five years.’

Mary said Liam was ‘finding it really hard’ being stuck in hotel rooms while traveling the world and not being able to go out because of the crowds of fans.

“He said, ‘I love it, it’s brilliant’, but he said, ‘It’s hard and it’s not what I expected,’ those were the words he said.”

She continued, “I followed his career and these young men and you think how proud you are. I always felt proud as a mother because I was the mommy figure in the house.

Before she gives in, she can’t even “begin to imagine” what Liam’s mother is feeling in the aftermath of his death.

Elsewhere, Mary recently opened up about how she feels about performing, noting that despite her X Factor fame and Panto, she is quite a shy person who takes on a different persona when she gets in front of the microphone.

She told me Sunday world: ‘People don’t realize that I’m quite shy. But I come alive when I’m on stage. I always say it’s not Mary Byrne on stage, it’s the character I’m portraying… the other woman inside me. It’s because you don’t have to be yourself… you’re someone else. Unfortunately, mental health sometimes takes away from your self-confidence, preventing you from accepting yourself for who you are.

‘Even when I was at Tesco I was still acting. When I think back to all the customers and sang to them and laughed with them, I covered the real Mary and she came out while I was working.

‘It’s just the way I am. I have to accept that and embrace that and accept that we are in it together and get on with it. But I think we are all actors. There’s something in all of us, we act every day of our lives to make it seem like we’re doing okay, or even to make ourselves feel like we’re doing okay.”

She added that she is a much “happier person” these days and a “totally different” person than she was during the pandemic, adding that while she will “never let that person go,” she is still “happier ‘ is when she is on stage.