Cher Lloyd first appeared on The X Factor back in 2010, when she was just 16.

The young singer, from Malvern, Worcestershire, performed a standout version of Turn My Swag On by Keri Hilson to rapturous reviews from the judges.

However, despite her talent, the star's time on the show was plagued by rumours of tantrums and she was cruelly branded the “most hated teen” in Britain.

As it's now rumoured that she is the elusive Panda on The Masked Singer UK, let's catch up with the former reality star a decade after her X Factor fame.

Cher was eventually voted off X Factor after the first round of the finals, after judge Louis Walsh had branded her “too big for her boots”.

In 2012, she told Fabulous Magazine: “I was a beast! Everyone hated me.

"I was young and foolish. Part of me was trying to show I was strong enough to do it, and then I think it all got too much for me.

"I was angry with the way I was being edited and because of that I turned into this horrible person, with a terrible attitude.”

After leaving the show, public perception of Cher got even worse after she accused her mentor Cheryl of abandoning her.

When speaking on BRMB radio, after the release of her song Swagger Jagger, she said: "I didn't have her mobile number to begin with. I've got more chance of winning the lottery than catching up with her.”

She also went on to make a comment about how Girls Aloud used autotune and challenged Cheryl to sing live.

Cheryl was of course fuming and tweeted: "Be Careful who you kick on your way up .. They kick you twice as hard on your way back down.. #unappreciationisugly."

Soon after Cher apologised to her former mentor, saying on ITV's Daybreak: "I just want to say sorry to her if she found that offensive. But at the end of the day, she is the person who got me to where I am today."

The star then went on to find fame across the pond, and got to number 12 in the charts with her song Want You Back.

Her second single only reached number 73, but she found success elsewhere in her personal life as she'd met and married hairdresser Craig Monk by November 2013.

Back in 2019, she told Loose Women: "I got married when I was 20, you know when you grow up and dream of that fairytale of course we've had our ups and downs, but honest it is like a fairy tale with me and him."

They lived in LA for four years, before moving back to England where they welcomed their daughter Delilah-Rae in 2018. Cher celebrated her eight-year wedding anniversary to husband, Craig Monk.

Now aged 28, these days Cher is a completely different person and lives a simple life in Essex, while paying frequent visits to her family in Malvern.

Cher has changed so much that she does not even like performing Swagger Jagger anymore as it reminds her of past.

The X Factor stars

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In an interview with The Guardian in 2020, Cher said: "I’m mother to a little girl.

"I’ve released two albums and I’ve got a top 10 hit in America. I’m not ‘the most hated teen’, I’m 26 years old! We’ve moved on!”

"I had to do damage control. And still, at 26 years old, I have to do damage control. Years later, I do have some anger towards people for doing that to me.”

Last year, the star said that she was always being chased by a 'group of 20 to 25 men with cameras' after filming and rehearsals.

After noticing that they would always position the camera "below" while following her, the Swagger Jagger songstress knew that she could never wear a skirt without having a pair of shorts on.

Speaking to Rylan Clark on his new podcast called Ry-Union, Cher explained: "At times I'd get really angry. I felt angry because I'd go to a rehearsal, leave the studio, and be chased on my own, chased by a group of 20 to 25 men with cameras.

"I just felt really vulnerable. There'd be a chaperone person for everyone as a group, of course, we were underage.

"But at times, from walking to the studio or a car, you'd be alone. That didn't stop. The sheer amount of paparazzi would wait outside of those studios. I just always remember knowing not to wear a skirt without shorts."

Cher recalled: "You'd go to get in the car and the first thing they'd do was place the camera below."

Earlier this year, Cher released a video on TikTok saying that she was exploited after finding fame on The X Factor.

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