James Arthur has opened up about his failed romance with Rita Ora, which left him “heartbroken” and prompted him to become a “sex addict”.
The fling with Rita began on his X Factor tour, he revealed in extracts of his autobiography, Back To The Boy, featured in The Sun on Sunday.
“There was a lot of magic there and it was an amazing night. Rita seemed really, really into me, but I still couldn’t quite believe it,” revealed the 2012 X Factor winner.
Initially, he thought it was going well – with Rita declaring her love for him.
“Me and Rita met up a few more times after that and had some more amazing nights.
“‘I’m in love with you,’ she told me one night. She said it so sincerely I wanted to believe her, though it seemed insane.”
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However, she then cut off contact, according to his account, and “seemed to disappear”. He added: “I was heartbroken. It hit me really hard.”
The break-up had a serious effect on James, who began sleeping with multiple women to help get over it -“one in the day and another at night, then a different one the next morning” – and “became a bit of a slag”.
He added: ““It was ridiculously easy. There would be no emotional attachment and it would be just pure sex, and with one or two exceptions that was how it was.
“I was chatting to hundreds of women online or on Whats-App after swapping numbers with them via Twitter, and I started to sleep with so many of them I lost count.
“For a long time I tried to kid myself I was only doing what any young guy in my position would do, and I also wondered if my extremely high sex drive had something to do with the medication I was on.
“It didn’t. The simple fact is I have an addictive personality coupled with a high sex drive made me a sex addict.”
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In 2014, things got worse as he was dropped from Simon Cowell’s label, Syco, following rows after his self destructive behaviour.
Thankfully, James, who was “drugged up on anti-depressants” during this time, seems to have turned things around – both in terms of his mental health and his career.
Now an ambassador for mental health charity SANE, James was re-signed by his old label, Syco, a year ago, and since then has had a number 1 single and a platinum album.
“During my recovery, I’d worked hard at teaching myself how to stand above my thoughts, to be aware of them, and watchful of them. I began to enjoy the positive benefits of the moment,” he said.