Lucy Spraggan: I stopped drinking and suddenly life made sense

Former X Factor contestant Lucy Spraggan has said giving up alcohol helped her discover fitness and completely change her life.

The 29-year-old singer – who competed in the ITV talent show in 2012 but pulled out due to illness – is 15 months sober and says life has finally started to make sense.

Spraggan told Lorraine: “In life you can get used to taking the edge off with a beer or a wine. When you stop taking that edge off the feelings are really intense. You get used to that, that becomes life. And that’s something I’ve actually quite enjoyed.”

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“The difference to my life, I want to share that… I stopped drinking and all of a sudden so many things made more sense. Fitness became a huge part of my life. I wanted to share that and I wanted it to be honest.

“I was married, that didn’t work out. I feel like there are a lot of things in the past that I’ve done and the way I’ve acted in the past has messed up so much for me. Without drinking I’ve been able to work internally on those flaws I had. Confronted some things I’ve never confronted before.

“I’m writing a book that talks quite openly about the things I’ve been through. My experience on The X Factor, being open about the reason why I left and things like that. That’s actually been quite cathartic, as well as being sober and doing the fitness.”

Watch: Lucy Spraggan discuss finding sobriety

Spraggan married ex-wife Georgina Gordon in June 2016. They split in November 2019 after three years of marriage.

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During that time they fostered children together and Spraggan revealed she would like to adopt one day.

She said: “I used to do that [fostering] with my ex-wife. It’s a brilliant thing to do and it’s very, very hard… as a person that lives alone, I’m not sure I could do it with the touring I do, but when I’m older absolutely. I’d quite like to adopt an older child when I’m a bit older, too.”

Spraggan got through to the live rounds of The X Factor in 2012 after auditioning with her own original song and playing the guitar. She was mentored by Tulisa Contostavlos, but pulled out in week five after falling ill.

She signed to Columbia Records in 2013.