FAME PRESSURES LED ME TO BAD CHOICES...

BUT NO NOW JAMES SAYS HE’S ENJOYING A SIMPLER LIFE

A AMES ARTHUR has said he was ‘led to do things’ he did not want to do at the beginning of his fame.

Th The f former X Factor champ found himself on his own after he scooped the TV crown in 2012 and moved to a London flat.

Reflecting on the turbulence stars face in the wake of documentary Framing Britney Spears, he told Guilty Pleasures: ‘I have suffered at the other end of the spectrum.

‘I’ve been left to my own devices too much. I went through the X Factor machine and then was living in a flat in London all of a sudden. That’s where I look back and think I should have had more people around me. Not to say people weren’t reaching out.’ He continued: ‘If I could give that guy some advice, I would say “let people help you”. I navigated this whole game by myself... being led to do things I didn’t want to do but thought I had to do to keep me relevant or validated.

Arthur-lutely ready: James is itching to perform new tunes

Career choices were made that don’t agree with my sensibilities.’

But after discovering meditation and landing a deal with Columbia records, the Medicine singer, 33, has ‘streamlined’ his life – and is happy to stay away from London.

The Middlesbrough lad said: ‘I’ve been interested in meditation for a long time but never gave it a go until 2020 because of a health anxiety.

‘I’ve realised how to streamline my life. I don’t have to get in a car to London to have a meeting anymore, which was genuinely a ball-ache. Life is a lot simpler than it was before.’

And after previously quitting gigs with stage fright, he is armed with new tunes and definitely ready now. ‘I’m gagging to play this stuff,’ he said.