X factor singer Danyl Johnson, reportedly lost touch with his father for more than a year after his parents’ split up.

His mum Maria Burgess told The Mirror: “Danyl’s dad and I drifted apart and I moved out when Danyl was 19 and his sister was 14.

“There was no big catalyst and it didn’t come as a surprise to Danyl or his sister when I said I was moving out. I discussed it and they knew it was going to happen.

“We agreed that the children would stay with their father because they were settled there and we split on good terms.

“But Danyl’s dad behaved in a very silly way over tying up the loose ends of our marriage.

Burgess claimed that Danyl’s dad didn’t want to sell the family home. She said:

“Looking back perhaps I was naive but I said we would put it on the market once the children were independent.

“But when it came to selling, he dug his heels in. I think it was because the place held a lot of memories for him.

“For his own reasons he wouldn’t move out. It was a large family home in a nice part of Reading but he couldn’t afford to stay there and he didn’t need all that space when it was just him on his own.

“In the end he forced me to take him to court to sell up. It cost us both a lot of money that neither of us could afford.

“By the time the house was put up for sale house prices had dropped so we got a lot less than we would have done if we’d sold at the height of the property boom.

“The whole episode left the kids quite angry with him and all the good relations we’d worked towards turned sour.

“I don’t have any contact with him now and I’d like it to stay that way. If Danyl has started speaking to him again, that’s between him and his father but we don’t discuss it.”