X FACTOR STAR
We’re on a sprawling farm close to Nashville, Tennessee, where Ben Haenow is making a music video with singing superstar Kelly Clarkson. He’s come a long way from his days as a white-van man in Croydon.
In the last 10 months, X Factor’s reigning champion has travelled the world, recorded his debut album and hung out with lots of A-listers. He’s also shed an impressive two stone and is sporting a new arm tattoo.
As a bona-fide pop star he’s oiled, primed and ready to storm the charts.
Which is why it comes as a shock when he talks about the double life he is leading. When he’s in this country, Ben, 30, is living at his girlfriend’s mum’s home, trying to save his seven-year relationship with Jessica Jones from falling apart.
“It’s been tough for her,” he says, his spray-tanned forehead creasing as he exhales. “Being away from her is tough for her. We speak every day though. In this industry you have to get a work-life balance.
“I always say to her if there is anything bothering her we have to talk about it. We are always really open with each other. I’m still living with her and her mum, and I spend a lot of time at my mum’s house too. So I think the next stage will be getting a house together. I just don’t want her to be on her own.”
One track on Ben’s self- titled debut album is called All Yours and “is about when you neglect the other person but not through any malice”.
He says being with Jess, 28, keeps his feet on the ground and he’s not worried about going off the rails because he’s got that out of his system.
Relaxing on the hay in the Tennessee heat, he recalls: “I was drinking a bottle of vodka a day and depressed and now I’m completely blessed to be in this position. It helped make me the person I am today so I don’t regret it and I don’t look back on any of that stuff badly.
“You self-destruct when you are younger. Your teenage years are when you experiment and do all that crazy stuff. That’s out of the way for me.
“I’ve turned my life around. I’ve lost two stone and I’ve been going to the gym. I’ve just been reining it in and I feel great.”
So he won’t be tempted by the music world’s sex, drugs and rock and roll?
“Obviously, loads of it,” he jokes. “Look, that is out there but it is a case of being sensible. I’ve been working for this for a long time and why would you want to jeopardise that? I’m up for partying and having a couple of drinks but I don’t think you have to get off your face.”
I recall X Factor’s 2012 winner James Arthur, 27. One of the biggest-ever talents on the show who nearly threw it away after repeatedly ranting on Twitter. Is Ben really prepared for the onslaught of huge fame? “I don’t think you can prepare for it because you don’t know what is going to be thrown at you,” he says. “But it’s about being sensible. You don’t go on your social media and rant about things.
“You are not going to be everyone’s cup of tea and you have to take the rough with the smooth. People are going to write horrible things, but it’s because they are not happy with themselves. At the end of the day I don’t think it has changed me and I don’t think it will.”
This week Ben released his debut single Second Hand Heart, featuring pop icon Kelly, and his album will follow on November 13. X Factor boss Simon Cowell, 55, has already been in touch to say he thinks the record is “incredible”.
We’re on set for the music video in the home of country music and Ben has been dining out on traditional Southern grub