Saara Aalto has discovered she’s got a secret sibling.
The 30-year-old singer was contacted by her previously unknown half-brother Mikael after he watched her on ‘The X Factor’ in the UK in 2016, and he’s likened their improbable encounter to a "film script".
Reflecting on her shock discovery, Saara said: "Everybody asks me, ‘Did ‘X Factor’ change your life?’. And now I’m like, ‘More than you know’.
"One small decision, for me to get on a flight from Finland to the UK – I had no idea how that one small thing could just change my whole life forever. It’s an amazing surprise, there’s nothing negative about it. I’m just super-happy to have a new person in my life."
Saara’s dad confirmed he’d had a one-night stand before meeting her mother, and her ties to Mikael were subsequently proven by a DNA test.
Of their physical similarities, Saara – who previously lived in the same Finnish town as her sibling without knowing of his existence – told The Sun newspaper: "His smile and his eyes are just like mine – it feels so weird. He is a guitarist.
"My dad plays the guitar and my brother plays the guitar and now my new brother plays the guitar … He is studying to be an English teacher and his second language is Japanese, which is really weird because I love and speak Japanese."
Meanwhile, Saara recently announced that she’s stopped working with Simon Cowell.
The ‘X Factor’ 2016 finalist decided to cut ties with Sony as she didn’t think they were the "right team" for her and has instead moved across to rival Warner, because they’re keen to make her a "big theatrical artist".
She said: "I was honoured I was signed to Sony. But later I felt like they weren’t the right team. When I met the people at Warner they were very excited about my style and making me into this big theatrical artist."
Saara Aalto discovers she has a secret sibiling
