So You Think Can Dance star Tommy Franzén has revealed that he was orphaned at the young age of thirteen. He insists that he isn’t hoping for sympathy votes from the public, but instead hopes he can inspire young dancers in difficult situations.

Tommy’s Dad father died of a heart attack when he was 11 years old, two years later his 43-year-old mum committed suicide.

“It’s very sad and it’s been really hard,” he told The Sun. “I had just started hip-hop dancing when dad had a heart attack. I found him inside our house.

“I was with my grandmother as we were worried because he hadn’t answered our calls and he had supposed to be picking me up. My parents divorced when I was 5 and my sister Elena and I had lived with dad.

“He was my rock and meant everything to me. It was just so awful when he died. Mum then moved in with me and my sister. She was working seven days a week in a restaurant and as a cleaner. In the end it was too much for her. She didn’t have any rest, didn’t earn much money, and she wasn’t happy.”

Franzén says that dancing helped him work through the hard times saying:

“Dancing did take my mind off everything and I am grateful I had it. If I had not had dancing, I would have been a lost soul.”

“I definitely don’t want people to think I am using this as a sob story. If I had, I would have used it when I entered the competition,” he added. “To be honest, I have tried to suppress it all in the past and I’m only mentioning it now because I want people to get to know the real me.”