STAR FACTOR –

Jan. 18, 2022 – Back in 2011, then-16-year-old Janet Devlin peered out at the judges from underneath a mass of hair, looking utterly terrified. 

Her voice trembling, she explained she was from a small town in Northern Ireland where she spends a lot of time alone, writing songs, and that she felt like she must be dreaming.

But as soon as she broke into her beautiful, soft rendition of Elton John ‘s Your Song, she had the audience on her side and the judges captivated. 

Janet received a standing ovation, and an impressed Gary Barlow told her: “All the time we are watching these artists we are trying to find people who will sell records, sell albums around the world. 

“And you are one of those people.” She attended the X Factor tour and attempted to throw herself into her songwriting, but the medication she was taking affected her ability to write, she said, and so she used alcohol as a replacement.

Speaking on her YouTube channel, Janet explained she was desperately lonely and it made her “go off the rails” after she finished the ITV show. 

She moved to Sheffield on her own and would drink before work and sleep with a gin bottle under her pillow.

“I hated myself so much, I despised who I was,” she said.

“Every action I made, I would over-analyse to the point of having panic attacks. I was buying big bottles of gin, drinking them at night time, topping them up in the morning.

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