5 MINUTES WITH...

W X Factor winner Sam Bailey, 40, fights back against the trolls who have made her life a misery in the new Channel 5 series. Go Sam!

hat made you want to take part in the series? I’ve been trolled and I just wanted people to know about it and how it’s not all fun and games when you’re in the public eye. How did the troll affect your life? I had someone report me to social services three times in 2014, saying I was a drug addict and an unfit mum. As a parent, when you get reported to social services they act on it straight away and the fact you’re reported is always going to be on your file. You start to ask yourself: “Am I really a good mum?” Did you fight back? If people in the public eye start fighting back, we’re called bullies. You have to take it. I just wanted to knock on the woman’s door and slap her in the face because of all the upset she caused. I’m not saying that I would do that, but that’s how you want to deal with it. It was really tough. Do you worry about your children getting trolled? Trolling is the new form of bullying. There’s so much of it now on the internet. I’m constantly teaching my eldest, Brooke [12], about it. But if I ever found out that she was bullying somebody else, she’d feel my wrath. You’re outspoken about the lack of curvy girls on TV… I absolutely love the fact that [singer] Adele is curvy. Not only has she got an amazing voice, but she’s stunning with it. There aren’t enough beautiful, curvy women on our TVS. Just imagine if some of the people who went on Love Island were a bit curvier! If a curvy girl saw someone on the TV with a body like hers doing well and people accepting it, then she’d accept herself more.