Simon Cowell has released a statement in support of Lucy Spraggan after she revealed that she was raped during her time on The X Factor.
The former contestant revealed she was raped by a hotel porter at the age of 20 while competing on the ITV talent show in her new memoir, Process: Finding My Way Through.
The 31-year-old said the attack took place in 2012 after a night out celebrating fellow contestant Rylan Clark’s birthday at a Mayfair nightclub, which was attended by members of the X Factor production team.
Following the attack, Spraggan left The X Factor, which was won that year by James Arthur, during the live shows citing illness, but has now revealed a side effect of a drug used to prevent HIV made her too unwell to continue in the days after the assault.
Almost 11 years on from the attack, Spraggan revealed in a new interview with BBC Breakfast that Cowell, who wasn’t a judge on her series of The X Factor, called and told her that he was “sorry”.
She said: “[They] said, ‘Simon wants to talk to you.’ And he called me, and I picked up the phone. And he said, ‘Lucy, before you or I say anything else, the first thing I need to tell you is that I’m sorry.’
“It makes me emotional now,” she recalled before becoming visibly emotional.
Spraggan continued: “’Cause no one else said sorry. He wasn’t even on my year, he wasn’t even a judge. And he still as a human being gave me everything that I needed in two words.”
Following her comments, the music mogul, 63, released a statement in which he spoke about the friendship that has formed between them following the “horrific” incident.
Cowell shared in the statement: “What happened to Lucy was horrific and heartbreaking.
“When I was given the opportunity to speak to Lucy, I was able to personally tell her how sorry I was about everything she has been through.
“Although we met under tragic circumstances, a genuine friendship and a mutual respect has developed between us.
“Lucy is one of the most authentic, talented, and brave people I have ever met. Since we connected, I have had the honour to work with Lucy and I have always supported her wish to tell her story, as well as her efforts to bring about positive change.”
After Spraggan bravely spoke publicly about the attack, ITV released a statement, which read: “We have the deepest compassion for Lucy and everything she has endured as a result of this horrific ordeal. We commend her resilience and bravery.
“The X Factor was produced by Thames and Syco, who were primarily responsible for duty of care towards all of its programme contributors.
“ITV as a commissioning broadcaster is committed to having in place suitable and robust oversight procedures, with a view to ensuring that independent producers employ the correct processes to protect the mental health and welfare of participants.
“We have evolved and improved these oversight procedures since the events in question and we are encouraged to hear that Thames recognises the importance of continuous review and improvement of their own processes.
“We continue to evolve our own duty of care processes on programmes we produce to ensure that there are appropriate measures in place to support contributors before, during and after filming.
“In an event of such a distressing nature, welfare and support towards the victim would always be of the utmost priority.”
A spokesperson for Fremantle, the British TV company that produced The X Factor for ITV under its Thames TV entertainment arm, said: “The serious sexual assault suffered by Lucy Spraggan in October 2012 was a truly horrific criminal act for which the perpetrator, who was not connected with the programme, was rightfully prosecuted and imprisoned.
“Anyone should feel safe when they are sleeping in a hotel room – and it is abhorrent to think that a hotel porter abused that trust in such a vile way.
“To our knowledge, the assault was an event without precedent in the UK television industry. Whilst we believed throughout that we were doing our best to support Lucy in the aftermath of the ordeal, as Lucy thinks we could have done more, we must therefore recognise this.
“For everything Lucy has suffered, we are extremely sorry. Since then, we have done our very best to learn lessons from these events and improve our aftercare processes.
“Whilst we have worked hard to try and protect Lucy’s lifetime right to anonymity, we applaud her strength and bravery now that she has chosen to waive that right.”
