Katie Waissel thanks fans for support after opening up about sexual assault by X Factor worker

Katie Waissel has thanked fans for their support after claiming she was sexually assaulted by someone who worked on The X Factor.

Singer Katie, 35, competed on the seventh series of the ITV show in 2010 and finished in seventh place.

The former Celebrity Big Brother housemate said she was previously too scared to speak out but has been pleased with the positive response after having her say.

She tweeted on Sunday: ‘I am so incredibly moved by the public’s continued outpouring of love and support upon release of my news story in The Sun newspaper today.

‘With April being Sexual Assault Awareness Month, I found this time more prevalent than ever to share my own personal experience now that I have found the strength to do so, and to stand with the ONS reported 1.6million adults who have experienced sexual assault (including attempts) from the age of 16 years old, in England and Wales alone (report year ending March 2020) as well as those globally.

‘I will be issuing no further comment or statement at present, however thank you for your continued and much appreciated love, kindness and support during this highly sensitive time.’

Describing the incident in an interview, Katie said: ‘I can still smell him. I was paralysed with shock. All I could think was, “How am I going to leave this room?”

‘I was a victim but I wouldn’t allow myself to recognise just how terrible it had been. I’ve never spoken before as I thought I’d be blacklisted and never work again.’

She added to The Sun: ‘I was vulnerable but times have changed and I now feel bold enough to speak out.’

Katie claims the ordeal happened in a luxury hotel, when she met the man to talk about recording work, and that it happened in the US, some years after her appearance on the show.

The publication states that the man, who is not being named for legal reasons, said the claims were entirely untrue.

It’s reported that Simon Cowell’s company began a probe as soon as they became aware of the allegations.

A spokesperson for Syco Entertainment told Metro.co.uk in a statement: ‘We were made aware via the media of Katie’s claims in Autumn 2017 and we immediately contacted her and began an investigation.

‘We were naturally shocked at the allegations and wanted to do anything we could to help – so we asked her to lodge a complaint with us and detail the allegations for that purpose. In the interim we suspended the accused.

‘Despite a number of requests to Katie asking her to detail the claims to us, she chose not to make a complaint over his behaviour. As a result, and without other evidence to the contrary, we were obliged to accept his denial of the claims.

‘We, of course, remain ready and keen to investigate her claims if she so chooses to detail them to us and even though the alleged perpetrator no longer works for either Syco or Sony Music.’

Katie said she did not want to make a formal complaint at the time as she was pregnant and did not want the added stress.

However, she went on to say she’s ‘traumatised’ by her time on the show and, if she could go back, she never would have taken part.

Katie’s claims come amid a string of other former contestants speaking out against the show.

Jedward – twins John and Edward Grimes – recently took aim at Cowell, while Rebecca Ferguson has called for an overhaul of how artists are treated in the music industry.

Cher Lloyd has not mentioned the show or anyone by name, but made reference to being ‘exploited’ in a recent TikTok.

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