Leona Lewis

Leona Lewis was born in Croydon in April 1985. She shot to fame after winning The X Factor in 2006, leading to a career that has seen her sell more than 35 million records worldwide, be nominated for two Grammys and seven Brit Awards, and reach number one in more than 35 countries with her 2007 hit “Bleeding Love”. She has since performed on Broadway (in CATS ) and appeared as a judge on the global singing competition Queen of the Universe . Lewis has also made her mark as a humanitarian and animal rights activist, working with organisations such as The Prince’s Trust, RED, MTV Staying Alive, Teenage Cancer Trust, Sports Relief, WWF, Humane Society, World Animal Protection and Hopefield Animal Sanctuary. In her Letter to My Younger Self , Leona Lewis opens up about early relationships, motherhood and finding her way after The X Factor. I’ve always been very close to my mum and my dad. My mum grew up in a children’s home from when she was around five or six with her three brothers and sister. She and my dad made sure we had a very stable family base. My parents give me my couple goals. They’ve had their ups and downs, like every relationship. But as I’ve gotten older, and got married myself, I look at them and think, they’ve been together for almost 40 years. Insane. They just gave us love and understanding and compassion. And they’re still working on themselves to be more compassionate and loving. So they definitely were a very good example of a strong relationship. I’d like to go back and tell my younger self that the world isn’t ending because my relationship is ending. I think that would really comfort her, because that was really painful for me. And I remember talking to older people, like aunts and stuff. And they would be understanding, but they would be like, oh, it’s fine. Get over it. You’ll see. But it didn’t feel like that in the moment. So I would tell young Leona, I see your pain, and I feel you, and I know this is awful right now. But you’ll be OK. I’d tell the young Leona to filter out the noise of people commenting on how she looks. It’s hard because obviously at that age, how you look, what size you are, all these crazy things, they seem like they actually matter. Because that’s what people were talking about, especially when it came to young female singers. I came up in a time where we didn’t have any social media, but then in my late teens it started with MySpace, and then Facebook, and then Twitter. So it was bubbling up in my late teens. I would just like to protect my younger self from the scrutiny and the harsh comments from people. At Windsor Castle in 2025 with her OBE for services to music and charity. Image: Stephen Lock / i-Images / Shutterstock