Katie Piper has revealed Simon Cowell once offered her a job shortly after her first documentary aired in 2009.
The Loose Women star reveals the poignant reason why she turned down a chance to work with the music moguls, and reflects on how she was treated after she was attacked in a new segment on the ITV titled, Life Before Loose.
Mum-of-two Katie explains how it sometimes feels like she's living two separate lives following the horrific acid attack, but declares that trauma "needn’t be a life sentence."
Katie - who was recently awarded an OBE - was viscously attacked with acid at the age of 24 by her ex-boyfriend and an accomplice in March 2008, causing major damage to her face and blindness in one eye.
The presenter and campaigner would go on to undergo pioneering surgery to restore her face and vision after the horrifying attack, and inspire a nation with her bravery when she released the 2009 Channel 4 documentary, Katie: My Beautiful Face.
Looking back on the period of her life, Katie revealed on Tuesday's edition of Loose Women how X Factor creator Simon got in touch with her to offer her a job as a runner after the documentary originally aired but she turned him down.
"I had this weird opportunity where Simon Cowell got in touch with me after the documentary and offered me a job as a runner at his production company
"The old Katie would have grabbed that chance to get into telly with one of the most famous people but I knew that actually it wasn't going to be fulfilling - there had been so much that had happened," she continued.
"So I talked to him and said I don't want to do that but I do want to do this and I told him I want to sponsor other people to get this treatment and set up a community and change things for burns survivors. He got behind me and he's still is to this day."
Speaking about her in her journey to set up the Katie Piper Foundation, where she mentors burns survivors, the inspiring star added: "Taking back that empowerment and having that voice became very important to me….I believe that in life there are some things we’re sometimes out of control, we’re the captain of our own ship.
"Your life is ultimately in your hands… what a privilege to find your purpose at 24."
Elsewhere in the moving segment, Katie looked back on her happy childhood, her teenage rebellious years and the moment that simultaneously changed her life and found her purpose at 24 years old.
The campaigner looked back on some of the highs and lows from her journey to becoming a household name, and recalled being asked to leave shops and being shouted at on the streets shortly after she was horrifically attacked.
"Nobody prepares for that," Katie recalled when reflecting on the 2008 attack. "It was like my life was turned upside down in a matter of seconds.
"Lots of different things happen to people and what’s happened to me is obviously more visual, but we all experience trauma in varying degrees. Trauma’s a fact of life, but it needn’t be a life sentence."
Opening up about how her parents dealt with the situation, she said: "It was quite complex because when people think of burns, you think of military heroes or burns in the kitchen or fireworks, I don’t think any of us realised how much it affects so many functions and so many other internal medical problems that we had to educate themselves on.
"It wasn’t an accident that happened to me, a long legal trial, several different charges that the whole family was affected - my siblings, my parents…"
In February this year, Katie received her OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire), after being named in the Queen’s New Year Honours list last month.
The star - who collected her honour from Anne, Princess Royal at an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle - was recognised for services to charity and victims of burns and other disfigurement injuries
*Loose Women airs weekdays at 12.30pm on ITV and ITV Hub
