MEGAN McKenna got her big break in the music industry back in 2019 when she won The X Factor: Celebrity.
After taking home the crown, the 32-year-old bagged herself a record deal with Simon Cowell’s music label Syco.
However, just a year later, the record deal collapsed and now Megan has revealed that the music mogul called her personally to tell her the heartbreaking news.
She told The Mirror: “The label shut down after I won, so it was pretty hard. It was tough because I'd worked so, so hard. But Simon and I had a nice relationship.
“He actually rang me – which was crazy, because it's not every day Simon Cowell rings you – to say that the label was closing down.
“He was really nice about it and said, 'I'm sorry, but you need to find a new home.' But it's not an easy thing to do.”
The former TOWIE star didn’t end up signing to another music label and instead she released new music independently back in 2022.
Although she still performs at gigs, music isn’t at the forefront of Megan’s life, as she is now a mum to her son Landon, who was born last year.
She and her husband Oliver Burke tied the knot in a lavish ceremony this Summer at Grantley Hall in North Yorkshire in front of their loves ones.
The family-of-three now reside in Berlin, Germany as Oliver is signed to a football team out there, but Megan is still back and forth to London for career opportunities and to see her family.
Prior to appearing on The X Factor, the mum-of-one released her debut album Story Of Me in 2018, under the label FrtyFve.
The album ended up charting at number five in the UK country charts and allowed people to take her seriously in the music industry.
While appearing on the reality competition series, Megan was able to perform her original music and blew away judges Simon, Louis Walsh and Nicole Scherzinger.
She beat off stiff competition from the likes of Max and Harvey, The Chase star Jenny Ryan and Love Island alumni Eyal Booker, Samira Mighty, Zara McDermott and Wes Nelson.
The public voted the reality star as the winner with a whopping 46.3% of the vote and she went on to release her own song This, which she performed on the final.
The X Factor isn’t the only show that Megan made a mark on as she made it to the final three on Celebrity Masterchef back in 2021.
She was praised for her gluten-free recipes and her success on the show led to her returning for a Christmas special the following year, which she ended up winning.
Megan subsequently released two cookbooks, Can You Make That Gluten Free? In 2021 and Love Gluten Free in March this year.
Megan McKenna's TV Timeline
Since her debut on Ex On The Beach, Megan has rarely been away from TV screens. Can you remember all the shows she has appeared on?
- 2009 - Britain's Got Talent, series 3 - ITV
- 2015-2016 - Ex On The Beach, series 3-4 - MTV
- 2016 - Celebrity Big Brother, series 17 - Channel 5
- 2016-2017 - The Only Way Is Essex, series 17-21 - ITVBe
- 2017 - There's Something About Megan - ITVBe
- 2018 - Celebs On The Farm, series 1 - Channel 5
- 2019 - Celebs Go Dating, series 6 - E4
- 2019 - The X Factor: Celebrity - ITV
- 2021 - Celebrity MasterChef - BBC One
- 2022 - Celebrity MasterChef: Festive Extravaganza - BBC One
