Frankie Cocozza Hits Out At 'X Factor' Bosses For Revealing Drug Use Story

Former ‘X Factor’ star Frankie Cocozza has lashed out at bosses of the reality singing contest for revealing his problems with addiction, and accused them of lying to him.

The 23 year old appeared on ‘This Morning’ on Thursday (May 19th), and spoke about the drug abuse claims which led to him being kicked off ‘The X Factor’ back in 2011, revealing that ITV bosses had assured him that details of the scandal would not be get out into the public domain.

“The whole cocaine thing, there was no proof or anything. I don't know why they decided to release that,” he told presenters Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield.

“They said they wouldn't, in the last meeting we had when they said 'Look we've heard that you have done it and stuff', and all it was, was me admitting it, there was no proof. I said there was no proof and asked if it was going to come out and they said no. And then on the way home it was just all over the papers and that.”

Given what was said in that meeting, he was disappointed that it all came out in the tabloid press so quickly afterwards. “Yeah, and I held my hands up and said I've got to leave, I've got to go.”

Cocozza still performs with his band The Telescreen, though his career has been quiet since he appeared and came second in ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ in 2012. He said he was now fully focussed on getting his career back on track, and explained why his life had spiralled out of control back then, revealing that he lost his best friend Connor in a freak accident.

“He received a single punch and died,” he emotionally revealed. “He was the best person I’d ever met, he was 19. Everyone else struggled, it was horrible. I was 19 and I had £200,000 in the bank. I like going out and I did like some of the stuff that I shouldn't have liked and it did get really bad. There was times that I would wake up and was crying and I just didn't know what was going on.”

‘The X Factor’ has not commented in regard to Cocozza’s claims as of the time of writing.

More: Frankie Cocozza turned down by Jodie Marsh for a date [archive]