Singer Leona Lewis Defends Electrician Boyfriend
The star stays with same boyfriend, in same neighborhood she grew up in
By NATALIE RIX
Updated 2:45 PM CDT, Sun, Oct 25, 2009
Singer Leona Lewis may be a newly anointed star -- but she refuses to leave her long-time boyfriend in the dust.
In an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian, the 24-year-old songstress who rose to fame after winning the singing competition TV show "The X-Factor" fumed at suggestions that she would dump her boyfriend of seven years because of her new-found stardom.
"I find it very offensive," she told the paper. "It's offensive to him -- implying he's not good enough for you any more -- but also to you -- saying you're so shallow you'd dump him when you became successful. ... For people to think that you should leave someone because, all of a sudden, you're a singer and you have opportunities. I feel very sorry for them."
The singer who is known for her chart-topping debut album "Spirit" said her long-term boyfriend, an electrician, is her "best friend."
"It does make me angry," Lewis told the paper. "Because he's a great person. And it doesn't matter what you do in life, what your job is, where you come from. None of that matters to me, what matters is who you are as a person -- nothing else."
Lewis, whose mom was a social worker and her father a DJ and youth offending officer, has stuck to her roots and still lives in the east London town where poverty runs rampant.
She said fame feels "alien and strange."
"I know it sounds a bit naive, but I never really thought of fame," she said. "I only thought that I would sing on stage and it would be lovely."
First Published: Oct 25, 2009 2:10 PM CDT
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