Rebecca Ferguson on love after Zayn Malik and X Factor 2014

Having learnt from her previous relationship with One Direction star Zayn Malik, Rebecca Ferguson has said  she’s keeping her new romance out of the limelight.

The former X Factor contestant was a single mother-of-two by the age of 21, endured a whirlwind romance with One Direction’s Zayn Malik and has now shacked up with an old mate in a long distance relationship.

‘I’ve got a boyfriend. I’m seeing him tonight and I haven’t seen him for a few weeks. It is hard because we’re always away,’ the I Hope singer told Guilty Pleasures at an exclusive playback of her new album, Freedom.

‘But I think you make it work if you love each other,’ she continued, explaining she has found comfort in an old friend and prefers to let love blossom away from the limelight.

‘We’ve been friends for years, which makes it easier. I’ve known him since I was about 22. The only person who was in the public eye was Zayn. And then the last three years I’ve not dated anyone. Apart from one idiot, who I won’t name, who then proceeded to tell everyone “she’s my girlfriend”. But other than that it was people I knew and who had been friends,’ she said.

‘Not that I’ve been with loads, right!’ she laughed.

With her second album due to be released on November 29, the singer will also be making a return to the X Factor stage to sing live in December and is backing Tamera Foster to win this years’ competition.

‘I think with the right guidance she could be a star,’ she said, adding she hopes the teen singer will be allowed to show more of her personality as the show enters its final weeks.

‘I feel like it would be nice to see more of who she is. You just have to be really honest. She’ll be able to relax with people with time and age. She’s just 16.’

Ferguson also thinks the bad reputation Tamera has weathered during the course of the competition is unfair.

‘I was probably a rebel at 16. She looks older so she gets judged. She looks like a woman you’d see in clubs,’ she said.

[Originally published Metro Guilty Pleasures Thursday 21 November 2013]