It’s safe to say that 2024 is shaping up to be a very special one for Lucy Spraggan. On a professional level, her career is soaring – she’s just released her single Sober featuring Robbie Williams, completed a UK tour, and has a new album in the works.
But it’s her personal plans that make this year so special. Later in June, the 32 year old will say “I do” to her fiancée Emilia Kate, 33, heralding a happy ending for a couple who spent ten years as friends, before realising there was something special between them.
Speaking to heat in the run-up to their big day, Lucy tells us she’s “so excited, because the wedding is getting closer, so there is so much to do”. As for cold feet or last-minute nerves, she’s totally unfazed, because she knows she’s marrying the right person.
“When I look at her, I feel inspired,” says Lucy. “She was always the person I could call knowing she wouldn’t judge me. She has always been a huge support for me. I remember looking at her one day and saying to her, ‘I think it’s you.’”
And while most people have a parent or family member walk them down the aisle, Lucy is being given away by a very special celebrity pal – her mentor Simon Cowell. Despite Simon, 64, not even being a judge the year Lucy appeared on The X Factor in 2012, they have formed a special bond years later.
“That’s why we’re getting married in June – after the Britain’s Got Talent shows,” Lucy laughs. “I know Simon doesn’t like going to weddings, so I’m very honoured.”
Lucy now counts Simon and his partner Lauren Silverman as two of the most important people in her life. “I love Eric, too,” she says about their ten-year-old son.
“He’s such a little character now and so much fun to be with. I love spending time with him. He’s learning to play the drums at the moment, and he’s just amazing. He has the same ear for a song as Simon – it’s like father, like son.”
It was her bond with Simon that gave Lucy the strength to write in her book, Process, last year about how she was raped by a porter in a hotel after a night out celebrating fellow contestant Rylan Clark’s birthday during their time on The X Factor. She says, “It took a long time [to speak about the rape]. It began with this scribbled anger rant, and it was all quite triggering. Then, as it went along, all these things happened to me.
“Simon came into my life and a lot of healing began. What the book did for me personally and spiritually outweighs everything. Of course, it was difficult to write, but I knew I had to do it. I had to get it all out of me. It may be hard for people to read, but it is honest.”
It was also Simon who enlisted Robbie Williams for Lucy’s self-penned track Sober, which celebrates her five-year sobriety, as he knew the song would equally resonate with the Let Me Entertain You singer. And according to Lucy, their collaboration carries extra meaning.
“The weird thing is that the day after that terrible thing happened on The X Factor, Robbie was due to mentor us,” she remembers.
“So, flash-forward 12 years and now we are duetting together on this new single. It feels weird, but I’m so happy he wanted to do it. I know the song means something to him as well.”
Lucy’s new single Sober, featuring Robbie Williams, is out now.