It’s no secret that Lauren Platt and Charlie George from Only the Young have been close ever since they entered the X Factor together.
But despite them being just friends, Lauren’s new life in the spotlight has taken its toll on her relationship with her boyfriend Liam Baker. It was announced that they had taken the mutual decision to have a break and her split comes just as she was booted off the X Factor last night.
But she has no regrets. In an exclusive interview with heat, Lauren said: “It was a complete mutual decision and one that we still stick by. We’re not in any rush, I’m 17 and he’s 19, and if it works out again…we just need my life to change however it’s going to change.
"Liam didn’t sign up for the X Factor, I did and he just got brought along. That’s a really hard thing to do to a person that you love so I think he just needed some time. I can have a boyfriend for ever but this is my one opportunity. I never ever regret going into the X Factor – it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”
X Factor rejects Only The Young popped along to the live result show to support Lauren, and we had an exclusive chat with Charlie backstage at the studios to find out how he feels about Lauren, now she’s a single lady.
He told us: “We are really close, we knew from the moment we met that we were so similar and that it was going to happen [get close].”
We asked Charlie if he could see himself dating Lauren in the future, he replied: “You never know – I’m sure Lauren and Liam never thought that they’d split up when she was going on the show, so you never know. If it ever does happen, then great.”
And when we broke the news to Lauren earlier today, she giggled and added: “I’m shocked. The way I see it, I’ve got to think about my career, this is the most important part of it, I don’t want to be one of those contestants where she gets involved in other stuff when she leaves the show and then she’s forgotten about and she can’t get herself back, so at the moment I’m focused one million per cent on a career and making a career for myself.
“Charlie is like my best friend, there is no denying that we are very, very close. That’s all I really have to say about the situation [giggles] and I don’t want to mug Charlie off. I don’t want boys to distract me.”
Aww Charlie look on the bright side – at least it’s not a NO from Lauren…