James Arthur looks almost unrecognisable from his X Factor days as the singer shocked fans with his appearance on ITV's Lorraine on Monday.
The 35-year-old British songwriter has recently made a comeback with his new single 'A Year Ago' which he took to the Britain's Got Talent stage to perform yesterday evening.
Arthur rose to fame after he won the ninth season of the X-Factor in 2012 and became a worldwide sensation with his hit single cover of Shontelle's 'Impossible'.
Fast forward eleven years and the star is now a parent for the first time after he welcomed his daughter into the world with his long term on-and-off girlfriend Jessica Grist.
However, things have not always been as plain sailing for the Middlesbrough singer who struggled a lot with the pressures of being in the public eye and previously admitted that fame nearly killed him as he turned to drugs to cope.
Arthur, who grew up in foster care as a teen, has candidly spoken about his mental health battles in the past before and after The X Factor. He also suffered a devastating loss as a parent before he was blessed with his first born daughter in 2021.
Here we take a closer look inside James Arthur's private life including his past drug addiction, mental health battles and his devastating child loss.
Struggle adjusting to fame
In addition to Arthur's struggle with drug addiction, he revealed in his book Back to the Boy that he started "bingeing on sex". The star admitted that after the high of his X-Factor success all came crashing down, he was left feeling lonely and isolated.
He candidly confessed in the book: "I became as addicted to sex as I was to weed. I craved sex, I had to have it and I needed it to fill the void and make myself feel better.
"I was chatting to hundreds of women online or on WhatsApp after swapping numbers with them via Twitter, and I started to sleep with so many of them I lost count.
"They were usually the same type — Babestation girls or glamour models. If I saw someone I fancied I’d contact her on social media and tell her blatantly I wanted to have sex."
James claims his downfall was down to his new found insecurities from finding fame, his paranoia and his ego.
He told the Sun: "I got lost in the whole fame thing. When there’s no expectation, you still have that paranoia, but when it’s on a scale where everyone is talking about you it’s magnified and I lost my mind, basically. I cracked."
However, the singer did himself no favours and just two years after he won X Factor, Simon Cowell dropped him from his record label despite his sales still increasing after James used a homophobic slur in a live rap battle.
The singer also struggled with online trolling and made the decision to dramatically quit Twitter in 2019 after he'd been left "hurt" by comments he had read on the social media platform.
The musician previously tweeted: "Have to be honest some of the things I read on here go a bit too far and quite frankly f***** hurt, if that was your goal you win. Maybe I should have thicker skin at this point I don’t know but either way this is my last tweet, I’m logging off."
Drug addiction
Arthur has been honest in the past about his downward spiral following his huge win on The X Factor.
When he lost his record deal and his public perception was at an all time low, the father-of-one became addicted to marijuana and prescribed pills which he was given to treat his depression.
While opening up about his inner demons, he told the Sun: "My lowest moment was when I was going to bed, I'd take 15 pre-rolled joints and smoke one after the other, popping anti-depressants. My head was an absolute mess."
It was during this time the 35-year-old told the outlet he got an "upside down cross" tattooed across his face.
He admitted that when things were at their worst, he contemplated taking his own life.
Speaking to Dan Wootton for the Sun in 2016, he said: "I genuinely was at the end of my tether. I’d never been a guy who suffers from suicidal tendencies but I had taken all I could take from life.
“I thought that was my chance and I’d ruined it. You never see an X Factor winner make a comeback. It doesn’t happen.”
However, Arthur's drug abuse had been going on for quite some time before he won the show as he previously admitted to the Daily Mail that he was probably "always high" on the X-Factor as he insisted "I’m much more present and more here now."
The singer finally got clean and was able to successfully rebuild his career as he made a comeback with hit single Say You Won't Let Go.
Arthur previously told the Sun: "Quitting drugs has helped me gain some perspective. I don’t recognise that artist in my first album. I was trying to write a hit, trying to be the best X Factor winner ever — they weren’t honest songs as you didn’t hear any of my character."
Heartbreaking loss
The singer revealed that he and his long term on and off partner Jessica Grist lost their first baby to an ectopic pregnancy.
The parents-to-be had already named their unborn daughter Emily and James dedicated a song to her while his girlfriend was pregnant.
An ectopic pregnancy is when a fertilised egg implants itself out of the womb and usually falls into a fallopian tube. If the egg gets trapped inside them, it won't be able to develop into a baby and also puts the mother's health at risk.
James and Jessica sadly lost their first unborn daughter Emily just a couple of months into their pregnancy with the singer previously admitting to Andy Jaye's An Hour With podcast that he probably should have waited a little longer to write a song.
The star decided to release the song anyway as he explained on the podcast that the song "was special to us, and we felt like it was one of the stronger songs on the record."
The emotional lyrics of the tune are: ''I needed life and life came, and gave me Emily. You make me a better man than I'll ever be, ever be, ever be, because of you Emily.”
Arthur and Jessica Grist later went on to welcome their first born daughter into the world in 2021 and in a touching tribute to their miscarriage, they named her Emily.
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