Leona Lewis Details Her “Messy” Exit from Simon Cowell’s Music Label: “I Could No Longer Compromise Myself”
Rodin Eckenroth/FilmMagic Reading Time: 3 minutes
Years after her exit from Simon Cowell’s Syco Entertainment, Leona Lewis is reflecting on her past relationship with the music mogul. The X Factor UK 2006 winner confessed that her professional connection with Cowell stayed longer than it should have and she ended up “really hurt.”
Leona Lewis Says Things with Simon Cowell “Got Messy”
After winning The X Factor in 2006, Lewis swiftly became a global superstar. After her satisfying success on the show, she greatly credits her mentor Cowell for giving her a huge level of creative freedom for her music. This, apparently, only became possible during her first years at Syco.
According to the “Bleeding Love” hitmaker, Cowell must have seen “something else” for her. After Christmas, with Love, Syco wanted her to do an album of Motown covers.
“I was like, ‘That’s not what I want to do.’ It got to a point where we creatively weren’t on the same page,” she said. “And then suddenly, I was like, ‘This isn’t working for me anymore.’ It was the hardest. It was like a teenager leaving home.”
In 2014, Lewis waved goodbye to her contract with Syco, ending her seven-year stint with Cowell’s guidance. Back in February that year, the singer posted a handwritten letter on social media clarifying why she left Syco after the label claimed that they dropped her.
“When there’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen, things can get messy,” she said. “There was a lot of miscommunication at the time. It was very upsetting for me. And it really hurt. And I think my fans wanted to know, ‘What’s going on?’ I just wanted to be very, very open, very honest. You know when you’re in a relationship longer than you should be? It was that.”
Yet, in spite of the “ups and downs,” she said that she and Cowell are already in good terms. As a matter of fact, Lewis sold her LA mansion to the music mogul for a reported $3.9M.
She Opens Up How Her Thyroid Illness Affected Her Confidence
In 2016, Lewis discovered that she had developed an autoimmune condition called Hashimoto’s. This thyroid illness unfortunately caused her to suffer from chronic fatigue.
“I think it was a build-up,” she said. “I had just not looked after myself how I probably should have. Body-wise, spiritually, mentally, physically, I just felt I was done. I needed to just go and look after myself.”
Her illness partly justified her keeping a low profile over the years. According to Lewis, her “confidence got a little bit knocked” amid the sickness. Thus, she instead focused on her life in LA alongside her husband Dennis Jauch, their one-year-old daughter, and their vegan cafes.
”It’s funny – it hasn’t felt like it’s been that long. But I just haven’t felt like I wanted to put something out yet, like a whole body of work. I also want to do it in a way that makes sense to me. I’m thinking maybe I want to do something more independent this time,” she said.
