15 November 2023 , 17:30
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Alexandra Burke found fame winning The X Factor in 2008, when she beat JLS and performed with Beyoncé in the final, but what has she been up to since?
Her winner's single, a cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, was number one that Christmas, and she went on to have a string of hits, several BRIT award nominations, and even toured with Queen B herself.
Since then, Alexandra has had stints on TV shows, including Strictly Come Dancing and The Great Celebrity Bake Off, and has become a mum of two with her boyfriend, footballer Darren Randolph. Here, we take a look back at Alexandra's life on and off screen over the last 15 years, and where the hit singer is today.
Alexandra Burke rose to fame after winning The X Factor final when she sang with Beyoncé (Ken McKay/REX/Shutterstock)
She has had a successful music career since her cover of Hallelujah made it to UK number one (PA)Career since X Factor
In 2013, the Bad Boys singer left her record label to focus on performing and made her West End debut as a leading cast member in The Bodyguard, taking over the lead role from Beverley Knight. She went on to perform in Sister Act The Musical in 2016, and the year after, she competed in Strictly, where she was paired with Gorka Marquez and made it to the final. Though, her passion for music didn't stop and she released her third album, The Truth Is, in 2018.
In 2021, Alexandra went on Celebrity SAS and was the only woman to reach the end of the gruelling series. She later said she struggled to readjust to reality and had therapy to cope with panic attacks. "I was crying all the time," she said at the time. "If I saw an advert for the Army, I had a panic attack. That side of it was really awful. I did get therapy. I wasn't sleeping well at all. I always thought there was somebody outside waiting to attack me. So I got a bit paranoid."
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It was thinking about her late mum, Soul II Soul's Melissa Bell, who died in 2017, that kept her going. "All I could do was think of my mum because I was just like: 'She'd be so immensely proud of me. She'd be so proud'. To have gone through this, my family already thought I was nuts anyway," Alexandra said. "My father was like: 'Why would you do this to yourself?' And here I am, standing here ready to just tell my family that I've actually passed. I'm so overwhelmed. My goodness, it was probably the best decision I've ever made in my whole entire life."
Alexandra sadly lost her mum Melissa Bell, who was in Soul II Soul, to diabetes in 2017 (Sunday Mirror)That same year, Alexandra revealed in an interview that she could've been famous from the age of 12 after she was offered a record deal from Stevie Wonder - but her mum rejected it. She said even though it took a while for her to 'take it in', Alexandra stands by her mum's decision. She told Mail Online: "My mum made the right decision. She always believed kids should be kids, to be able to go to school, be with your friends at the cinema and theme park. And not to ever take that from a child because you won't get those years back."
In 2021, Alexandra featured on Leigh-Anne Pinnock's documentary, Race, Pop and Power, where she told how she was once advised to 'bleach her skin' if she wanted to be successful in the music industry. "I remember when my mum used to take me to certain management companies. I won't name them now because they're still friends and that's good, and it's all love," she said. "But when I was 15, they told me and said: 'We've got one black person, we can't have another'. And I got that a couple of times."
Alexandra broke down in tears as she admitted: "They said 'You need to bleach your skin or you won't sell any records'. That's what's so f**ked up about this industry. That's what, at times makes me feel at times that I don't want to be industry. It took my confidence away so much, at times, that I felt I couldn't be me." She also said that she'd been told by some people, "Because you're Black, you need to work 10 times harder".
Love life and family
In 2015, Alexandra appeared on Celebrity First Dates but her date with professional model Louis didn't make it to a second. In 2018, she was engaged to stage manager Joshua Ginnelly, but the couple broke things off one year later. She then moved on with Hull City footballer Angus Macdonald and was with him for two years, while he was diagnosed with bowel cancer - an illness he later recovered from. They announced their separation in 2020.
In 2021, Alexandra was linked to footballer Darren Randolph, and the loved-up couple went on to welcome two children together in 2022 and 2023. On Loose Women last year, Alexandra got tearful explaining the reason she'd decided to keep her baby's name and gender a secret. She explained that, while she had chosen to be in the spotlight, her family hadn't and said that the impact of her fame on them had been "hard".
Alexandra is now in a relationship with footballer Darren Randolph and they have two kids (INSTAGRAM)
The star has decided to keep her children out of the spotlight until they are old enough to decide (alexandraburke/Instagram)"I come from X Factor and I'm very grateful for the platform," she said. "In the process of being who I am, the impact on them is hard." As she began to cry, Alexandra continued: "They never asked for it, I asked for it... I want to protect the baby as much as I can." She continued that she would let her child decide when they were older whether they wanted to join her in the spotlight. Opening up about motherhood, she said: "I've never felt so content in my life and I've never known love like this. It's overwhelming and I don't know how to put it into worlds. I'm so happy."
Earlier this year, the star sparked speculation that she had secretly married Darren after calling him 'hubby' on Instagram. But she later confirmed that they are yet to be engaged and 'wifey' and 'hubby' are their pet names. "Let me be very clear about this… I called him 'hubby' because he calls me 'wifey' and those are just nicknames for each other," she told Mail Online. "We need to remind him to put a ring on it... There's no rush, when it's meant to happen it will happen.'