X Factor star Matt Cardle has opened up about his rocky relationship with alcohol – and how being sober again has made everything ‘great’.
The singer, 41, has always been candid about his struggles, including the perils of instant fame and how he struggled with his mental health in the years that followed his 2010 win.
And now, speaking to The Sun, Matt has revealed that he stopped drinking in January after making a ‘conscious decision to knock it on the head’.
He told the publication: ‘Life is always better when I’m not drinking. Life has been great.
‘I think it can take a long time to work out who you are as a person in this life. Especially when you are in the public eye and judged. I think I know who I am finally.’
X Factor star Matt Cardle has opened up about his rocky relationship with alcohol – and how being sober again has made everything ‘great’
The singer has always been candid about his struggles, including the perils of instant fame and how he struggled with his mental health in the years that followed his 2010 win
Matt is currently on tour with West End musical & Juliet, following his latest album Time To Be Alive, which was released in 2018. He also confirmed that he is working on new music.
Back in 2021, the singer said he believed sometimes reality show contestants’ ‘dreams and hopes’ are messed with in order to make great TV.
Appearing on Fubar Radio, he said it was ‘about time’ that after care is taken more seriously so people aren’t ‘used’.
He said: ‘It’s such massive exposure and you’re so unprepared for it. And no-one wants to hear anything negative said about themselves.
‘And when you get onto a level or a stage at that level, the hate and the vitriol that comes out of people’s mouths can be brutal. And it’s like, no-one prepared me or anyone for that.’
Talking about his series of X Factor in 2010, which saw him beat One Direction in front of 18 million viewers, he explained: ‘Some of the people on there were so young at the time.
‘I was luckily 27, but we had kids on there and it’s like, mate, you’ve got all these people online going, ‘Oh, you’re s**t, oh you’re ugly.
‘There really is a duty of care to protect because those shows use people. It’s as simple as that, you know. Like everyone else on that show was, was being used, as was I even post the show.’
Matt has always spoken openly about his mental health in the past, having battled an addiction with prescription pills and alcohol after his win (pictured in 2010)
He told the publication: ‘Life is always better when I’m not drinking. Life has been great'(pictured in 2019)
He continued: ‘It’s a tricky one for them to navigate because they are just trying to make good telly. But along the way, people’s hopes and dreams are going to get, you know, messed with.’
Matt has always spoken openly about his mental health in the past, having battled an addiction with prescription pills and alcohol after his win.
Discussing his struggles, he explained: ‘Talking is the only thing that helps with mental health and all that kind of stuff.
‘Any problem that you have, a problem shared is a problem halved, it’s what they say. And, you know, I found through just talking about it openly, it does really help.
He continued: ‘I’ve never had any shame in talking freely and openly about it, but yeah. I think that comes from a place of, Look, if one person can hear something of what I’ve said and it makes a difference to their journey with it, you know, even if it’s realising they’ve got a problem, you know, then that’s worth doing.’
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