The singer has a way to go with talking directly to his parents (Picture: REX/Instagram)
James Arthur has opened up to his parents about being put into foster care in a bid to tackle his decades of ‘trauma.’
The singer, 34, has filmed a new documentary titled James Arthur: Out of Our Minds, which will air on BBC Three on November 13, delving into the impact of his mum and dad’s decision to give him up as a child.
James, who won The X Factor in 2012, battled depression and anxiety after leaving foster care, both of which became so severe that he struggled to leave his bedsit and ended up feeling suicidal after he found fame.
The Impossible hitmaker reveals how going back to his roots was key for him to tackle his mental health issues.
‘I decided that, to tackle my mental health issues, had to start by going back to my hometown to revisit my past, and the separation from my parents,’ he told The Sun.
But, he admits he hasn’t ‘gone there fully’ when it comes to speaking to his parents.
The X Factor winner will go back to his roots to get to the bottom of his struggles with mental illness (Picture: Ken McKay/Thames/REX/Shutterstock)
‘I need to talk to my dad. With mum, I don’t know if I’ve ever got closure from her – to hear her say “sorry” without hearing a “but…”.’
The former reality star added he has ‘felt a lot of resentment’ towards his mum and dad and did his best to keep them away.
But he’s now moved back to his hometown of Redcar in North Yorkshire after feeling ‘isolated’ living in southern England.
James was put into care at the age of 14 (Picture: Mike Lewis Photography/Getty Images)
James hopes the move will allow him to feel closer to ‘who he is’ as he will be surrounded by people who knew the ‘weird little ADHD kid’ he was back in the day.
The singer’s mum Shirley split from his delivery driver dad Neil when James was aged two and both remarried new partners the following year.
After Shirley’s partner and James’ stepdad Ronnie Rafferty ‘disappeared,’ it left her raising four children alone and, a year later at an emergency social worker meeting, his parents admitted they couldn’t cope.
At the age of 14, James was sent to live with a foster family.
James’ life of living in a bedsit in his 20s on antidepressants changed when he appeared on Simon Cowell’s singing competition, but he ended up making headlines for the wrong reasons shortly after.
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After topping the charts, the Say You Won’t Let Go singer was embroiled in controversy over a homophobic slur on Twitter and was dropped his record label SyCo label in 2014.
Two years later, James managed to resurrect his career, resigning with SyCo and mounting a charts comeback.
James Arthur: Out of Our Minds, airs on BBC Three on November 13.
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