FORMER X Factor winner Sam Bailey, 46, just wanted to go on X-Factor in the hope it might help her finance a modest new kitchen and boost her pub singing profile.
As it turned out she ended up winning the show in 2013.
Here Sam talks about fame combined with the immense joy and heartbreaking struggles of being a parent.
I AM one of those people who adores children. Even now, if I’m in a room and I see a baby, I make a beeline for it.
I always loved performing, but I had put my singing career on hold to have my children, Brooke, now 18, and Tommy, 14.
I ended up working as a prison officer to pay the bills, and it was a job I really enjoyed.
No day was the same, and while my husband Craig [50, who owns a carpet cleaning business] didn’t like that I was putting myself in danger, I grew up on a council estate where it was the norm to see violence.
To be honest, I entered The X Factor in 2013 because I really wanted a new kitchen!
I was singing in the evenings in pubs and clubs and thought that if I was lucky, I’d be on for about five seconds then could put: “As seen on The X Factor!” in brackets on pub fliers and get more money for my gigs.
So I completely surprised myself by winning – it paid for a massive extension to the house and a pub in the garden, plus so much more.
We weren’t planning to have any more kids – Craig was even booked in for a vasectomy – so when we discovered I was pregnant with baby number three [Miley, now eight] it was a bit of a shock, but we were happy.
However, I don’t think the record company was as pleased about it – they had plans for me – but it was my life.
I never wanted to be famous like Beyoncé, who I supported in 2014.
I went on the show to provide for my family, and I’m still travelling the world doing a job I love.
I’m about to go on a cruise to sing – my ninth one this year! I feel very lucky.
My older kids are grateful that my job means we’ve got a bit of extra money and can go to nicer places, but they appreciate the graft, too.
It’s all Miley has ever known – Sharon Osbourne is her godmother, though we haven’t seen her for quite a few years.
During the pandemic, an assessment confirmed something we had long suspected – that Tommy is autistic.
Looking back at clips of me on The X Factor, you can see that when everyone is screaming, he has his hands over his ears.
He’s always had a problem with noise, and he has food issues – he’ll only eat crunchy food – and struggles when he’s overstimulated.
We knew the transition from primary to secondary school would be difficult for him, but it was worse than expected.
It felt like we were constantly being contacted by the school.
It was too much for him, he was walking out of lessons and having meltdowns.
He’d come home and bang his head against the wall.
He was so low that he was threatening to throw himself in front of a bus – he didn’t want to be alive.
Hearing that from your 12-year-old kid is like being stabbed in the heart.
We sent him to a different school for children who were not coping, but that was even worse – there would be people knocking on his head or asking why he was wearing ear defenders, and he ended up hitting one of them.
I took him straight out of that school – I wanted him to know that violence is never the answer.
We then had a difficult 18 months of homeschooling, because we couldn’t get the funding to send him to a special school.
I was away working and Craig tried to teach him, but it was impossible.
Everyone was falling out and something had to give.
When you have a child like this you have to learn so much, very quickly.
I fought and fought and fought.
We did finally get Tommy into a school for autistic kids and it’s like he’s a different child.
He’s no longer in a dark place, he enjoys getting up for school and makes his own lunch.
He’s starting his GCSEs and is doing the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. We’ve got him back.
Parenting isn’t easy, but my kids are my life.
My best moments are when we’re giggling together on the sofa.
I’m blessed to be doing the job I do, but I feel luckiest of all that I have three wonderful kids.
