SHE may have been billed as ”the new Cheryl” but the last thing Cher Lloyd wanted was a celebrity relationship.
So despite record bosses urging her to fake a romance with another famous name to boost her profile in her teens, the X Factor star was having none of it.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun as she launched her comeback following a six-year hiatus, 26-year-old Cher recalled the sham relationship idea, saying: “They gave me a few suggestions but it was just a crazy thing to ask.
“Sadly it still happens. That’s still happening in this day and age — that it’s still OK to try to make a young girl do something like that to boost a career.
“I am never going to be that girl, I was never going to be that girl.
“I write music, I release music and I don’t have the hidden agendas.
“It’s not my thing to do a publicity stunt, it’s messy, I’m not interested. Plus, I was married.”
Cher only ever wanted to settle down with one man, hairdresser Craig Monk, 29, the father of her 23-month-old daughter Delilah-Rae, much to the frustration of her label bosses.
She adds: “I’ve been married for nearly seven years and I love him.
“OK yeah, he is a normal guy, whatever you want to call normal, but you can’t help who you fall for.
“I’m sorry to big music heads that I didn’t marry a very successful celebrity to make money for them.”
Cher was just 16 when she strutted on to the stage of the ITV reality show ten years ago in her ripped jeans and gave one of its most memorable auditions.
Her take on Keri Hilson’s version of Soulja Boy’s Turn My Swag On has been watched 65million times on YouTube and sparked instant comparisons with Cheryl, her mentor on the show, thanks to her long brown hair and clear star potential.
The 2010 series was the biggest ever as she was up against One Direction, Rebecca Ferguson and eventual winner Matt Cardle.
A record 17.7million tuned in to the final and Cher finished fourth, but had instant success when she scored a No1 with her debut single Swagger Jagger.
She went on to release two albums and got a US top 20 song before retreating from the spotlight to start a family.
But Cher’s life could have been very different if she’d had her way about trying out for The X Factor.
Recalling the day of the audition, the singer, from Malvern, Worcs, said: “It was hot and we were queuing up for hours with thousands of people and I turned to my mum and said, ‘I’ve had enough, shall we just go home?’.
“She went, ‘I’ve not paid my last bit of money to get here on the train for us to sod off back home. I’m not going home — you’re doing this audition’.
“I did it and little did I know it was going to change my whole life. It’s crazy.”
Cher has no regrets about being on the show despite her bolshie attitude splitting opinion with viewers.
She explained: “Sometimes I think about when I was on the show and I only remember small things about it.
“Some bits, of course, you block out because they weren’t too pretty.
“Maybe out of all the contestants that have been on the show I had a bit of a tough time.
“I was very young, maybe too young.
“I just wasn’t aware of the world and how the world can be and how people can be.”
The eldest of four siblings raised by parents Darren and Dina, Cher adds: “I mean — blimey — I hadn’t even been to London.
“I’d not left where I grew up.
“So it was a bit of a punch in the face all of a sudden.
“But in some ways that’s only given me more ammunition to stick at it and not just say, ‘Poor me, I had some bad comments so I’m going to throw in the towel’.
“I never did that. I could have but I didn’t.
“And ten years later I’m still doing my absolute best, working my ar*e off to still release music.”
After the competition, Cher released a string of songs before a short stint living in the US, where she had more success including collaborations with Demi Lovato and Mike Posner.
Unlike many other X Factor graduates, she has not gone on to appear on other reality shows.
Though that isn’t for a lack of offers.
On whether she has turned down shows such as Strictly Come Dancing, I’m A Celebrity or Celebrity Big Brother, she said: “I may have been asked. But for whatever reason at that time, music obviously took over.
“If I’m busy making music, that will always take priority.
“That’s not to say I’m going to sit here and say I’m never going to do those things. That would just be stupid of me.”
Cher admits she could be tempted by one programme.
She continued: “The show I’ve always watched and found so interesting is Dancing On Ice because it’s dangerous. I like the danger.
“You’re skating on ice and you could stack it at any minute and I like that — I like a bit of fear.
“I’d give it my best, I really would. I’d give it all I had.”
Cher may just have the perfect outfit for the show too, after wearing a figure-hugging bodysuit for the video of her comeback single Lost — which came out today.
After a decade of people being more used to seeing her in tracksuits, it’s quite a departure.
She explained: “I loved it. But also I had a moment before I walked on set where I was like, ‘Am I really sure I want to lay on a bed in something that resembles knickers and let everyone watch it?’.
“Then I just had a moment where I thought, ‘Oh sod it. Just do it’.
“It’s been nearly two years since I had my baby and I just go through stages where sometimes I feel excellent and other times I feel a bit crap.
“Sometimes you feel like, ‘Yep, I feel confident, I’m going to wear what I like’.
“Then other times you just feel a bit rubbish. But I pushed myself a bit to wear this particular outfit.
“I’ve never worn anything like that before. I’ve never had the guts to.
“I wouldn’t even wear a bikini. I haven’t got the confidence to do that.
“So this outfit in this video is a big, big thing for me. Huge.
“If you go back to my first ever video, Swagger Jagger, I was walking down the street in tracksuit bottoms that were too big for me and trainers with the tongues up to my knees.
“When I was a kid my nan and grandad would take me to the seaside and I’d refuse to take my socks off. I’ve always had these little issues.”
Now the star feels ready to put out a new album which has, this time around, been driven by her.
Cher explained: “There is definitely enough to fill an album or two or three or four.
“I’ve been writing and recording for the past six years but this time it’s been me going into studios and co-writing the songs.
“This process hasn’t been me not having full control over it and just being told, ‘Here’s the songs, this is what we’re doing’.
“This is me leading this with the help of other amazing songwriters and my team.
“Ultimately I really do want to release an album and I want that to be soon.”
And although she has faced more than her fair share of criticism over the years, Cher is not letting people’s perceptions of her from The X Factor dictate her life.
She added: “I was just a baby then. I’m 26 now and I feel like it might be time for me not to be so hard on myself any more and if I feel like it, just go for it, you know?”
