Former X Factor star Janet Devlin has claimed X Factor bosses were unconcerned about her suicidal thoughts.
The Northern Irish singer, 25, competed on the eighth series of the ITV show in 2011, finishing in fifth place at the age of 16.
And now, she says that despite it being known that she was plagued with thoughts about taking her own life, she said: ‘No one around me even cared enough to ask if I was all right’.
Speaking out: Former X Factor star Janet Devlin has claimed X Factor bosses were unconcerned about her suicidal thoughts
Speaking about being in a dark place while she was on the show, she said in her biography, My Confessional, as quoted in The Sun: ‘During my time on the show the dark clouds came back in full force. If I wasn’t rehearsing a performance or surrounded by other contestants at the X Factor house, I would be contemplating suicide, though I could never bring myself to think that word.’
Heartbreakingly, she told how she would ‘daydream’ about suicide and eventually confided in a crew member who assured her she wasn’t the only person going through it.
She was told that the other contestants on the show had been visiting a therapist and psychologist, with Janet herself being taken to London’s Harley Street for an assessment.
Way back when: The Northern Irish singer, 25, competed on the eighth series of the ITV show in 2011, finishing in fifth place at the age of 16 (pictured on the show in 2011)
There, it became apparent just how much Janet’s mental health was suffering, with Janet stating: ‘On a scale of one to 100, 100 being the worst, I scored 93. This was not good news. Proof, were it needed, of just how on the edge of suicide I was.’
The Running With Scissors hitmaker went on to say that she put on a brave face for ‘months’ when in actual fact, she felt ‘broken’ inside.
However, she felt that she didn’t get the support she needed from show bosses, accusing them of being uncaring when it came to her needs and solely focusing on her delivering a great performance on stage.
She said: ‘No one around me even cared enough to ask if I was all right. So long as I was ready for the performance, that’s all that mattered.’
Struggles: she says that despite it being known that she was plagued with thoughts about taking her own life, she said: ‘No one around me even cared enough to ask if I was all right’
Janet added that following the competition, which was eventually won by Little Mix, she was invited on the X Factor tour, of which she hoped would put an end to her ‘sadness’.
However, things didn’t improve, with Janet’s medication affecting her song-writing and thus she used alcohol as a ‘replacement’, but added that ‘nothing worked’.
MailOnline have contacted representatives of X Factor for comment.
In March, Janet candidly discussed her battle with alcoholism, revealing her life would have ‘ended in the darkness and the pain’ had she not got sober.
Speaking to her fans on her YouTube channel, the singer admitted that ‘loneliness’ during her teen years made her ‘go off the rails.’
Tough: ‘During my time on the show the dark clouds came back in full force. If I wasn’t rehearsing a performance or surrounded by other contestants at the X Factor house, I would be contemplating suicide’ (pictured in 2016)
Of her struggle, Janet explained that it was feelings of self-loathing that led her to drink as she said: ‘I hated myself so much, I despised who I was.
‘Every action I made, I would over-analyse to the point of having panic attacks,’ she added, explaining that she would cry in the bathroom during her stint on The X Factor.
Detailing how she turned to booze to deal with her inner demons, she went on: ‘I was buying big bottles of gin, drinking them at night time, topping them up in the morning.
‘I was a mess. Booze gave me so much, it was this magical juice that allowed me to come out of my shell.’
Having her say: ‘No one around me even cared enough to ask if I was all right. So long as I was ready for the performance, that’s all that mattered’ (pictured on the show in 2011)
Candid: ‘On a scale of one to 100, 100 being the worst, I scored 93. This was not good news. Proof, were it needed, of just how on the edge of suicide I was’ (pictured inn 2014)
However, she credits going to Alcoholics Anonymous with helping her overcome her struggle as they helped her ‘become a person again’, and she has been in recovery for five years.
Janet said: ‘There are so many great things that have happened since I got sober, I never would have seen that, I never would have been able to live my life [without being] sober.
‘My life would have ended in the darkness and the pain, and the hurt of being an alcoholic, when there’s so much more to life than that.
‘But when you’re in it that’s all the world is to you, its dark and its hard and its impossible, but the pain isn’t comfortable its familiar, and its so easy to sit in that familiarity, but i promise it gets so much better if you work towards it.
‘This has been no easy task, I’ve had to work really hard, loving myself, being sober and trying not to take life for granted.’
Open: ‘My life would have ended in the darkness’: X Factor star Janet Devlin detailed her battle with alcoholism on Wednesday, saying ‘self-loathing’ and ‘loneliness’ led her to depend on booze
Inner demons: Janet explained that it was feelings of self-loathing that led her to drink as she said: ‘I hated myself so much, I despised who I was’