26 October 2023 , 08:51
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She was once a waitress at Pizza Hut with dreams of belting melodies out on stage, and now Leona Lewis, 38, is famed for winning the X Factor in 2006, bagging a £1 million record deal and achieving the Christmas number one with her cover of Kelly Clarkson's A Moment Like This.
Since her landslide victory defeating Ray Quinn in the ITV final 17 years ago, the Hackney-born singer has sold over 35 million records, been nominated for six BRITs and three Grammys, and won two MOBO awards. After her win, she was signed to Simon Cowell's Syco record label, but has since parted ways.
Now, the Bleeding Love star has created a whole new life in Los Angeles with her family and has taken a drastic career change, driven by her passion to make the world a better place for her one-year-old daughter. Here, we take a look back at Leona's successes and her latest business venture, which she describes as 'disruptive'.
Pizza Hut waitress Leona Lewis was famed for winning the X Factor in 2006 (Shutterstock)
She won a record deal with Syco and joined forces with Simon Cowell (Talkback Thames)Leona's debut studio album Spirit became the fourth-best selling of the 2000s and lead single Bleeding Love spent seven weeks at UK number one. However, she announced her decision to ditch Simon and part ways with Syco in 2014 after falling out of love with the record label. "Simon Cowell has been incredible but at the end of a day it's a huge label now," she told The Independent at the time, adding that "there was no love in it" and she felt "in limbo".
The star landed a new record deal with Universal and later explained that there was no bad blood between her and Simon. "Simon sent me a really lovely note the other week saying they miss me at the label," she added. "There's nothing but love there. He knew I had to leave. He was upset about it but it was time for something new so I'm excited about moving on and doing something different."
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And in December 2021, the singing sensation poured cold water on feud rumours, insisting she still has a 'good' relationship with the music mogul, who she described as a 'big supporter'. Speaking on The Jonathan Ross Show, Leona said: "It was [an amicable split] – we're still good, we keep in contact, he checks in on me, I check in on him."
Meanwhile, Leona admitted that she thought it was the right decision to axe the X Factor, and explained that she'd struggled with self-doubt after being catapulted into the limelight. Leona said: "It was bound to happen at some point and I feel like it was the right time. We are in a different day and age now, with streaming and all the different platforms that we are on — there is so much out there. Everything has to evolve and move on and we can't stay static. We have to go with it and embrace it, it was time."
She still has a good relationship with Simon and even sold him her £1.8 million house (FilmMagic)
Leona and her husband Dennis Jauch fell for each other in 2010 and married in 2019 (Getty Images)While Leona has had lots of success in her career, away from showbiz she began suffering from an array of ailments that led to her being diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease in 2017. Hashimoto's is an autoimmune condition that affects the thyroid gland and causes chronic fatigue, nausea and pain, which left Leona struggling with day to day life.
"I was feeling very sick and had chronic fatigue and these really bad pains in my neck and throat. I didn't know what was going on. It was a pretty hard time," she wrote in an essay for Glamour. Suspecting the illness was linked to her hectic lifestyle and exposure to chemicals used in beauty and hair products, she stopped straightening her hair and made numerous other lifestyle changes.
"When I was first diagnosed, I was absolutely devastated; I felt very scared and alone ," she said. "I could hear my body telling me that I needed to slow down. I also started to feel tired during performances. I began taking medication but also turned to Ayurveda (my mum is a master herbalist) to help heal my body naturally. I just got to a point where I wanted to start over physically and emotionally. I started eating better and I stopped straightening my hair."
As for her personal life, Leona split from childhood sweetheart Lou Al-Chamaa in 2010 and then met choreographer and creative director Dennis Jauch on her Labyrinth tour. In July 2019, she married the German dancer in a Tuscan vineyard, telling OK! Magazine before the wedding that Dennis is her "rock".
The mum-of-one is now on a mission to make the world a better place for her daughter (Getty Images)"We're so ready to do this. Dennis is the most kind, considerate person I've ever met," she gushed of her man, who popped the question during a holiday to Puerto Rico. The couple have owned a series of multi-million properties and in November 2019, they sold their £1.8million ranch in Glendale, California for a £2.9million home in Los Angeles' famous Hidden Hills. Showing her relationship with Simon Cowell is still strong, she sold the house to the music tycoon in 2020 and now lives in Studio City in a £2million mansion.
Leona had said in the past that she wasn't sure about having kids, once saying: "I do want children, but Dennis and I have also talked about adopting. My mum grew up in a children's home. No one adopted her as a child and I would very much like to adopt. But I'm still figuring things out. If it was up to my husband, we would have had kids yesterday."
But then fans were thrilled when she announced they were expecting their first child and last August, Leona revealed the birth of their daughter, Carmel Allegra. She shared a sweet snap which showcased a partial view of the newborn's face as she cradled the tot, who was wearing an adorable light pink onesie, and held on to her hubby's hand. She captioned the post: "And then there were three. Our little Carmel Allegra arrived 22.7.22."
Leona is now the proud owner of a vegan coffee shop in LA. She relocated to Los Angeles following her stardom success and set up Coffee and Plants in Pasadena three years ago. The star is now looking to expand her booming side hustle, opening another site in the Studio City neighbourhood.
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"What I tend to do is focus on what we can do. My husband and I actually opened a coffee shop with sustainability at its heart - so for every few cups that we sell, we plant a tree - we're partnered with the National Forest Association. And all of our stuff is recyclable," she said earlier this year. Leona, who has been a vegetarian since she was 12, and vegan for the last seven years, wants to 'lead by example' for her child.
She said her parents made "a real effort to make me feel comfortable as a vegetarian", and that's something she hopes to pass down to Carmel, who she calls 'Coco'. "For me as a mum now, obviously I am conscious and aware and trying to do my part as best I can," she explained. "As parents now, everything is amplified and we think to ourselves, OK, what are we passing down to Coco? When she’s older, is she going to look at us and be like, what did you guys do? What has happened? It definitely makes you more aware, for sure."