Leona Lewis Helps Fabulous’ Child Financial institution On Us Marketing campaign and Encourages Brits to Assist Struggling Moms

AFTER the hardest of pregnancies, which noticed her battling debilitating illness, Leona Lewis hoped for some respite after the start.

However though the nausea lastly subsided, postpartum nervousness set in, and the previous X Issue winner discovered herself consumed with fear within the months that adopted child Carmel’s arrival final July.

Leona Lewis discovered herself consumed with fear within the months that adopted child Carmel’s arrivalCredit score: Mark Hayman

Leona says ‘anxious ideas’ had been preserving her upCredit score: Mark Hayman

Leona’s private expertise throughout being pregnant and past is without doubt one of the causes she’s backing our Child, Financial institution On Us marketing campaign

“It was very, very arduous,” she says.

“I’d get myself actually labored up about whether or not she was consuming sufficient, or if she was OK. I used to be so drained, so drained after which I’d have these anxious ideas that saved me up, so I wasn’t ever in a position to relaxation. When she was napping, I’d be watching her as an alternative of catching up on sleep. And the dearth of sleep made issues even worse.

“I’d been so sick all through the entire being pregnant, I might hardly get away from bed. That went on actually up till she was born, so it [had already been] quite a bit, each bodily and emotionally.”

The stress grew so overwhelming that Leona, 38, went to counselling to assist handle her emotions. 

“I spoke to a counsellor, which was an enormous assist to me,” she says, talking from her house in LA near the studio the place we shot her for these beautiful pictures.

“It’s so necessary in the event you can converse to somebody about it. I spoke to my pals and mums about how I used to be feeling, and simply figuring out I wasn’t alone made such a distinction. 

“I labored on making an attempt to carve out little moments once I might take a breath and have a break and depend on different individuals to assist. But it surely took two or three months for it to simmer down and for me to begin feeling like myself once more. Motherhood has been such a wild, loopy experience.” 

Leona’s private expertise throughout being pregnant and past is without doubt one of the causes she’s backing our Child, Financial institution On Us marketing campaign, launched in partnership with Save The Kids, Little Village and child banks throughout the UK.

The community-focused initiative is asking on the general public to volunteer their time and donate second-hand youngsters’s gadgets to their nearest child financial institution.

It additionally goals to boost consciousness of the very important work child banks do and the advantages they carry to households, particularly throughout a price of residing disaster, which is impacting households throughout the nation.

Leona says she was impressed to assist after realising how a lot she wanted to lean on different individuals to hold her by way of these extremely difficult first few months.

She needed to discover a means to assist fellow mums who didn’t have the identical help community or who couldn’t simply afford the necessities, corresponding to nappies, garments, slings, toys and prams.

“I used to be so fortunate that I had loads of help round me. And it made me take into consideration the ladies who don’t have that, or don’t have entry to it. I simply wish to do something I can to assist – since changing into a mum, my coronary heart opens as much as each mum I meet. I’m like: ‘Oh, I like you!’

“When Fabulous obtained in contact about Child, Financial institution On Us, it felt excellent. That is precisely what I wish to do. I’m lucky sufficient to afford the requirements, however there are such a lot of ladies and youngsters who are usually not in the identical place.”

Leona says she was impressed to assist after realising how a lot she wanted to lean on different individualsCredit score: Mark Hayman

Leona grew up in Hackney, east London, the place many low-income households struggledCredit score: Mark Hayman

Leona has first-hand information about what life is like beneath the poverty lineCredit score: Mark Hayman

Leona grew up in Hackney, east London, the place many low-income households struggled, giving her an actual understanding of what life is like beneath the poverty line, in addition to first-hand information about simply how weak this makes these youngsters. 

She would possibly stay a really snug life in Los Angeles now, however Leona’s deep sense of group was instilled in her by each dad and mom – her mum Maria was a social employee for a few years, whereas her dad Joe labored as a youth offending officer and now volunteers at a meals financial institution – and burns vibrant to today.

She says: “I grew up round that sense of supporting individuals and that feeds into the work I do now. I’ve all the time felt we have to use what we have now to assist others, particularly in the event you’re ready the place you possibly can. 

“Even people who find themselves working full-time can’t afford meals in the intervening time. My dad sees this occurring – he talks to me in regards to the individuals he’s assembly day-to-day and it’s determined on the market proper now.”

It’s been 17 years since Leona turned an in a single day celebrity on The X Issue, successful the present and occurring to have a No.1 debut album on each side of the Atlantic.

Her biggest-selling single Bleeding Love topped the charts in 35 nations in 2008. She has offered greater than 35 million information worldwide and is a three-times Grammy nominee.

Nonetheless as softly spoken, considerate and sweet-natured as she was again then, Leona admits now she was totally unprepared for the lower and thrust of the often-brutal music trade.

She had no thought simply how rapidly and fully life was going to vary as she was swept away within the post-X Issue insanity.

“I used to be not ready in any respect. I simply liked to sing and didn’t suppose that it will ever take me to the place it has. I lately did [American talk show] The Jennifer Hudson Present they usually confirmed a bit clip of me from again then and, oh my god! I first entered once I was 19 – I used to be only a child.”

By 2014, Leona was at breaking level. She’d launched 4 albums in eight years underneath Simon Cowell’s Syco label, however felt more and more at odds together with her file trade bosses.

They’d been pushing for her to launch a covers album, which Leona felt would compromise what she stood for as an artist, and so she took the courageous choice to stroll away, later writing an open letter to followers, during which she admitted to having been “extraordinarily depressed” over the earlier 12 months.

She described reaching a spot the place “the downs had been outweighing the ups”.

Away from the highlight, Leona has settled in LA, the place she has lived for a number of years with choreographer husband Dennis JauchCredit score: Instagram

Leona nonetheless has an amazing relationship with Simon CowellCredit score: Shutterstock

Wanting again, she says she was completely terrified.

“As a younger girl working with an enormous, highly effective label, it was one of many scariest issues I’ve ever finished,” she says.

“It meant leaping into the abyss and seeing the place I landed. However I’ve all the time acted with integrity, and I knew the songs I needed to sing and the feelings I needed to convey, and I knew that it simply wasn’t working. 

“And generally you must stroll away from issues, though that’s arduous. It was like a relationship that you just in all probability shouldn’t be in any extra, however you keep in it, even though it doesn’t really feel fairly proper, as a result of it’s arduous to interrupt away. 

“And I’m so glad I did, as a result of I obtained to go on a unique journey and keep true to myself. And I felt very empowered as a girl after taking that call. I didn’t let worry maintain me again and that felt very highly effective to me. It helped to construct my confidence, which I actually wanted at the moment.”

Leona signed with Island Information and went on to launch 2015 album I Am. She insists there are not any arduous emotions with Simon Cowell and, almost a decade on, their relationship has by no means been higher.

“I like Simon. Like something, you undergo issues and generally they make you stronger. He’s been there quite a bit for me and we have now a extremely good relationship now, one which has blossomed all through the years and particularly since he had [his son] Eric. 

“He’s all the time very supportive of my initiatives and he’s a extremely good man. When Coco [Leona’s nickname for daughter Carmel] was born, he despatched me an attractive body, which I’ve obtained her sonogram image in, so it’s actually candy.”

However regardless of Leona and Simon’s shut ties, a number of former X Issue contestants, together with Katie Waissel and Cher Lloyd, have referred to as into query the obligation of care on the present, which was formally cancelled in 2021, after 17 years on air.

Leona says, if it hadn’t been for the help of her tight-knit household, she could effectively have struggled to manage.

“My dad and mom have all the time been actually robust figures in my life and had been at each single present I’d ever finished since I used to be 10 years previous. Even after I received The X Issue, it was their mission to be at each present, by some means. 

“And truthfully, if it hadn’t been for them, I don’t know what I might have finished, as a result of they had been there to again me up on a regular basis. I can’t converse on different individuals’s experiences as a result of I don’t know what help that they had round them. 

“However I additionally had a extremely nice administration workforce. My supervisor Nicola Carson, who I first met in The X Issue home, has been with me from that day to now, and I really feel actually fortunate to have had that.”

Away from the highlight, Leona has settled in LA, the place she has lived for a number of years with choreographer husband Dennis Jauch, 34.

She runs Espresso And Crops, a plant-based espresso store with two websites.

Admittedly, life sounds fairly idyllic, though she does say that London will all the time be house.

“I get to trip quite a bit. I’ve the liberty to go house and see my household and be again right here [in LA] once I must. My husband’s work is right here, in order that’s an enormous issue as effectively.

“I see myself as residing in each locations. I benefit from the nature, the life-style and the solar of LA, and I’ve an enormous inventive group with a number of musicians and singers and I actually love that. However house for me will all the time be London.”

Leona and Dennis, who’s German, met again in 2010 when he was a dancer on her tour. They married in Tuscany 9 years later.

“I’ve all the time been so near my mum and pa, however now Dennis and I’ve our personal little household unit, which is so lovely,” says Leona. “Having Coco has positively introduced us nearer. We’re a household now and I’m simply having fun with that a lot.

“Daily there’s one thing new with Coco, which is wonderful. I put her hair in a bit ponytail for the primary time immediately. It’s solely about 5 strands of hair, however I like it! She’s very opinionated and is aware of what she desires and it’s so humorous seeing her little persona coming by way of.”

Leona and Dennis, who’s German, met again in 2010 when he was a dancer on her tourCredit score: Getty Photos

How has motherhood modified Leona?

“I’ve turn out to be laser-focused as an alternative of splitting my time and power between 1,000,000 various things. I don’t wish to miss something, so I’ve to be actually acutely aware of what I select to place my power into.”

Which means specializing in ardour initiatives, like her sustainable cafes – for each 100 cups of espresso offered, they plant a tree with the Nationwide Forest Basis, and earnings assist fund Hopefield Animal Sanctuary in Essex.

She additionally lately recorded One Step Nearer, the theme tune to AppleTV+ sequence Jane and so far as a brand new album goes, she’s “again within the studio” and “within the course of of making and seeing the place I wish to go to subsequent.”

Plus, a UK Christmas With Love tour is scheduled for this winter.

Stepping off the hamster wheel and studying to be picky has helped Leona discover some much-needed steadiness in life. Though she admits motherhood has inevitably tipped it off kilter once more.

“When the infant got here alongside, it was a bit like: ‘OK, now I must do one other recheck!’

“However the work-life steadiness is unquestionably higher. It’s not excellent and I’m nonetheless engaged on it and figuring it out, however I’m in a spot the place it’s much more settled than it was earlier than.”