Former X Factor star Lucy Spraggan announces engagement and says Simon Cowell will walk her down aisle

Singer confirms engagement to partner Emilia Smith on Instagram

Former X Factor contestant Lucy Spraggan announced that she is engaged to be married and that television personality Simon Cowell will walk her down the aisle.

The 32-year-old singer announced in a post on Instagram that she will marry partner Emilia Smith in June. Spraggan and Smith had been friends for 10 years before they started dating.

“I am so thankful that the universe gave me you, Emilia. I was immensely thankful when you were just my friend and I cannot begin to describe the gratitude I have to experience your love in a different way,” Spraggan said in the post.

Speaking about their relationship in an interview with Fabulous Magazine, she said: “Emilia and I were those friends who said: ‘If we’re not married by the time we’re 40, we’ll get married to each other,’ and somehow, this deep friendship opened up into attraction.”

She also opened up about asking Cowell to walk her down the aisle.

“We’d been staying at Simon and Lauren’s house for a few days. One morning, Simon was about to get in the sea and I said: ‘Will you give me away?’ He replied: ‘Yeah!’”

“He went off for a swim and when he came back, he said: ‘I’d absolutely love to. It would be an honour.’”

Spraggan has developed a strong friendship with Cowell since she appeared on The X Factor in 2012, though she described her experience on the show as being like “an abusive relationship”.

Spraggan, then 21, left the show after week three because she was raped. In 2013, a hotel porter pled guilty to the attack and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Lucy Spraggan has spoken about an incident during a concert in Dover (Getty Images)

With her anonymity legally protected, Spraggan felt that she couldn’t talk about her experience publicly. But while writing her memoir Process: Finding My Way Through, she got in touch with the companies behind The X Factor – ITV, Syco, Sony and producers Fremantle – to inform them she would be writing about the lack of support following her exit.

Simon Cowell was a major figure on The X Factor (Getty Images)

Spraggan revealed that Cowell was the first person from the show to offer her comfort. “And he called me, and I picked up the phone. And he said, ‘Lucy, before you or I say anything else, the first thing I need to tell you is that I’m sorry.’ It makes me emotional now…Cause no one else said sorry. He wasn’t even on my year, he wasn’t even a judge. And he still as a human being gave me everything that I needed in two words.”

Rape Crisis offers support for those affected by rape and sexual abuse. You can call them on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, and 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland, or visit their website at www.rapecrisis.org.uk. If you are in the US, you can call Rainn on 800-656-HOPE (4673).