Lucy Spraggan has dedicated a song on her new album Balance to her late friend Caroline Flack.
The former X Factor contestant, 31, discussed further sky news why Love Island presenter Caroline, who committed suicide in 2020, inspired one of her songs after her seventh studio album was released on Friday.
Lucy was just 20 when she was scouted to take part in the ITV series in 2012 and became an overnight sensation, with her audition viewed by millions on TV and online.
But the singer-songwriter abruptly left the show after week three when she was raped by doorman Soby Jon – who later pleaded guilty to the assault and was jailed.
She said, “I remember hearing that she had passed away and I was so overwhelmed.
Inspired: Lucy Spraggan has revealed she dedicated a song on her new album Balance to her late friend Caroline Flack
Committed: The former X Factor contestant shared why the late Love Island presenter inspired one of her songs, after she committed suicide in 2020 (Caroline is pictured in 2019)
“I wondered what protocols and procedures were in place to help someone who clearly needed help at the time.
Lucy also tries to spread a positive message to her fans through her music in an effort to help other people.
She added, “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 it’s all about. It’s a very positive message.”
Lucy has also spoken out after chronicling her experience on the show in her new memoir, Process: Finding My Way Through.
In the book, she describes how she was sexually assaulted after fellow contestant Rylan Clark’s 25th birthday party, where staff and singers were given “free alcohol” – which eventually led to Lucy falling unconscious.
After being returned to the hotel she was staying in, having moved from another London hotel with 24-hour security, Lucy was raped by a doorman.
In an interview on Elizabeth Day’s podcast How to failLucy says the aftercare she received from the show’s production company, Freemantle and ITV, “drained every ounce of self-esteem I had left.”
Lucy describes the reaction of The X Factor production team in the days following the attack.
Fame: Lucy was scouted for the show at the age of 20 and survived the first three live shows before abruptly quit
Assault: Lucy has since revealed she was raped after fellow contestant Rylan Clark’s 25th birthday party on the show (pictured with Rylan in 2012)
“I was a business problem,” she says. ‘We as participants were commodities from the start. In my opinion we were not treated well, we were so tired, we were drunk, we were stupid. We were checked. We haven’t seen our families.’
She burst into tears and added, “what made me sad about that was how disappointed I was. I just feel sorry for myself. I wish I could have marched in and said, “Don’t worry, we’ll take you somewhere, you don’t have to worry about anything.”
“There was, and I imagine there still is, a huge failure in the duty of care towards me, not just my physical self but also my mental self.”
‘After the X Factor 2012 live final I was not contacted by ITV, Freemantle or Syco. I was not offered ongoing mental health care, I was not offered employment. I was not offered a secondary platform to launch my little rowing boat and restart my life and career. More important is my life, because that destroyed it.’
If the question is “who failed?” it is clear to me that the people who took care of me then abandoned me.’
She explained how she feels: “I have been in prison for ten years. Every time someone said, “Are you that girl from the X Factor?” My name, my face became synonymous with The X Factor and those words became synonymous with my assault.”
“I was plucked from the greatest moment of my life in the most traumatic way. I didn’t grieve for the opportunities I missed.’
Lucy later recalled how shortly after X Factor presenter Caroline Flack took her own life in 2020, she wrote a letter to ITV, Fremantle, Simon Cowell and Sony saying she was writing a memoir.
Friends: Lucy has said X Factor boss Simon Cowell was ‘the only one who treated her like a human being’ after apologizing to her years after the attack
“I said, ‘If you find me full of drugs, full of alcohol in a car, in a ditch and I’m dead, it wasn’t me.’
The response she received from ITV began with the words ‘we’re sorry the experience you had on the X Factor was so unfortunate’.
“I felt like every ounce of worth I had built, they took a pin and stuck it in my side and drained every ounce of self worth I had left,” she recalls reading the response.
However, a glimmer of light came from what she considered an unlikely source at the time: Simon Cowell calling her after she received her letter.
“I took the call, ready to fight and he said, ‘I’m sorry.’ So much changed in my life in that moment, says Lucy.
“The power of one’s responsibility… For the first time in ten years it stopped raining. I didn’t expect that from him.’
‘I joined the great army of participants who said ‘we hate Simon Cowell’. He was the only one who treated me like a human being. He’s like family to me now, it’s so confusing to me because I see the human in him.”
“When Simon asked me what I needed, I didn’t tell him, you just did it.”
Information and support for anyone who is a victim of rape or sexual abuse is available from Rape Crisis on 0808 500 2222.