North East performer Joe McElderry opens up on ageing in the public eye during eye opening interview
Since first appearing on TV in 2009, Joe McElederry has grown up with the limelight, and the star has opened up about comments from the public on his appearance.
The South Shields-born singer first rose to fame on the X Factor in 2009, where he won the sixth series.
Since then he has taken to stages across the country and beyond as part of productions of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in addition to starring in various pantomimes across the UK.
But now the star has opened up on growing up in the limelight. He beat Olly Murs in the X Factor final in his late teens, and he told BBC Merseyside about the public’s reaction to him now.
“People’s first memories going back to X Factor is me aas an 18 year old teenager, which is fine. I’m 34 now and no one looks the same at 34 as they did at 18.”
“It’s the comparison I find really worrying for young kids” he adds. “It’s an easy angle for media outlets to go ‘he looks so different from being 18’ but once you’ve written that story once it’s boring.
“Unfortunately once you win the X Factor you don’t get a pill which stops you from ageing - if I had invented it I wouldn’t have needed to win the X Factor!”