Fleur East begged to be “let go” from Simon Cowell’s Syco label.
The singer, 38, shot to fame after reaching the final of The X Factor in 2014 but three years later walked away from her record deal with show boss Simon, 66, as she found it too draining to battle executives about the standards of her music.
She told comedian James Barr on the What If People Find Out? podcast: “I could see I was being left at the side. Going into studio sessions every single day for two years is mentally draining.
“Then having them go, ‘I just don’t think it’s strong enough’.
“That is so, so difficult to deal with and I’d just had enough, to be honest.”
Fleur added about her challenges culminated in a face-off: “I walked into the office, demanded a meeting and said, ‘What are you doing with me? Just let me go. I’m a big girl. This limbo, this shelving period is awful. This is worse than just letting me go, so please just do it’.
“I had to really force them. Imagine begging to be let go.”
She spoke out after Simon recently issued an apology for being a “d***” to wannabe pop stars.
He confessed he went “too far” with the crushing put-downs he used to dish out on The X Factor, adding he’s now “sorry”.
In December, the music mogul also apologised for “being a d***” when judging American Idol.
He told The Sunday Times about his time dealing with aspiring singers on The X Factor – which ran from 2004 until 2018 in the UK and between 2011 and 2013 in the US: “I did realise I’ve probably gone too far.
“What can I say? I’m sorry. I’m not proud of it. But then again, the upside is that it made the shows really popular worldwide.”
Simon has now returned to talent show land with his Netflix show Simon Cowell: The Next Act, which shows him battling to put together another One Direction-style boyband act.
Simon insisted he has “never read” the nasty reviews of the show.
He added: “The only thing I can judge is my own taste. I can’t please everyone. If you don’t like it, you don’t like it, but that’s your call.”