Simon Cowell’s friendship with Lucy Spraggan after X Factor

Simon Cowell has walked down the aisle to marry former “X Factor” contestant Lucy Spraggan at her wedding.

The singer took part in ITV’s talent show in 2012, but withdrew from the competition due to what turned out to be extremely traumatic circumstances. The guitar-playing folk singer, who wrote her own songs, did not fit the archetype of an X Factor contestant and signed with Columbia Records, not Cowell’s label Syco, in 2013.

But 10 years after appearing on the show, unusual circumstances brought Spraggan and Cowell together. And they’re now such close friends that she asked him to accompany her. Here’s how the pair met and how they built a strong bond.

Brief encounter

Spraggan, 32, made it to the live rounds of The X Factor in 2012 after auditioning with her own song and playing guitar. She was mentored by Tulisa Contostavlos but withdrew in the fifth week. At the time, an official statement revealed that illness was the reason for Spraggan’s exit from the show. Cowell was not a judge on the show that year, but he is the creator of The X Factor.

Rape agony

In 2023, Spraggan revealed that she had left the show because she had been raped during a night out with fellow contestant Rylan. Spraggan was raped by a hotel porter who broke into her room after a night out celebrating Rylan’s 24th birthday. The porter was eventually sentenced to 10 years in prison. Spraggan praised Rylan for his support on the night of the attack and said she believed his actions were crucial in convicting her attacker.

She waived her right to anonymity to share details of her experience, saying the show’s producers made her feel like a “corporate problem” and her mental health suffered greatly as a result.

make contact

After Spraggan made her rape public, Cowell contacted her and simply said, “I’m sorry.” Spraggan revealed in an interview with BBC Breakfast that he contacted her through her press representatives and then spoke to her on the phone to personally apologise for what she had been through.

She said: “It makes me emotional now because no one else has apologised. He wasn’t even in my year, he wasn’t even a judge. And yet he gave me everything I needed as a human being in two words.”

Friendship made

After Cowell’s apology, the two became friends; Spraggan visited him at home for dinner and even went on trips together.

In June 2023, she told the Metro: “I never met him on X Factor because he wasn’t a judge that year. Our paths crossed 10 years later and I think that was when they were meant to meet. I know him as the guy I go out to dinner with at his house, the guy I’ve been to a f***ing petting zoo with. I’m really grateful to be supported by someone who is so supportive and such a good friend.”

Wedding role

Spraggan first married her ex-wife Georgina Gordon in June 2016. They separated in November 2019 after three years of marriage. She found love again with long-time girlfriend Emilia Smith, 34, and they became engaged.

Spraggan revealed to The Sun’s Fabulous magazine that she was a guest at Cowell’s when she asked him to join her at her wedding. She explained: “We were at Simon and (his fiancée) Lauren’s (Silverman) house for a couple of days. One morning Simon was about to go into the sea and I said, ‘Do you want to join me?’ He said, ‘Yes!’ He went for a swim and when he came back he said, ‘I’d really love to do that. It would be an honour.'”

Special bond

Spraggan has since married Smith and Cowell admitted to Hello magazine that he was “nervous” and “proud, happy and emotional” as he walked her down the aisle. But he also spoke of their “special bond” since they became friends.

He said: “The best way to describe our relationship is that it feels like we have been friends for life. When I was asked to walk her down the aisle, I realised the significance and importance of this role. And all day I thought that even though it was only a relatively short time ago, we feel like family and there is a very special bond between us.”

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