The mother of X Factor singer, Niki Evans has revealed how hard her daughter found the pressures of showbiz the first time round.

When Niki was only 16, she was chosen by Pete Waterman to support Sonia in a UK tour, however, the pressures to lose weight and change her hairstyle was just too much for Niki at the time.

“The tour was her dream. Yet she came back devastated. Supporting Sonia was not a glamorous life at all,” Niki’s mother Annette told The Mirror.

“I had a heartbreaking call saying, ‘Mum, I’ve got to lose weight’. She was a size 12 but lost 21lb in six weeks. She had her long hair cut off too and looked gaunt when she came home full of stress coldsores.”