Back in 2012, up-and-coming musician Lucy Spraggan was 20 years old and experienced quite the life-changing moment via an opportunity to audition for one of the most influential unscripted series of the past 25 years: The X Factor. As created by Simon Cowell, the precedessor to American Idol was as popular as ever, with the wildly successful group One Direction turning their 2010 third-place spot into international fame and fortune. Despite crushing it during the auditions and early weeks of competition, Spraggan bowed out of the season after three weeks of live performances, with an unidentified illness as the reasoning. Now, the singer-songwriter has opened up and revealed the actual reason for her exit is that she was raped after a night of show-sponsored celebrating.
After eleven years of holding onto that trauma and the many other emotions tethered to such a damaging experience, Lucy Spraggan is now at a place both personally and professionally where she feels comfortable sharing her story with fans and the public at large. Her entire journey is laid out in her memoir Process (set for release on July 20), from the initial incident to the years of drinking, drugs and partying that served as the aftermath. She spoke at length with The Guardian about that harrowing time in her life, and while she feels that the X Factor producers at the time failed at providing enough support after the fact, she gave credit to Simon Cowell for being an authentic pillar of consolation and encouragement.
