Former Boyzone star Keating announced he would not be returning for the upcoming seventh season of the singing competition on Saturday (25Apr15), and now Australian native Bassingthwaighte has followed him out the door after three years on the programme.

She took to Twitter.com on Wednesday (29Apr15) to break the news to fans, writing, "I wanted you all to be the first to know that I won't be returning to X Factor Aus (sic) this year."

However, Bassingthwaighte will still remain a part of The X Factor family as she will continue to work as a judge on New Zealand's version of the series, which she joined last month (Mar15) as a replacement for fired judges Natalia Kills and Willy Moon, who were axed for launching a barrage of insults at contestant Joe Irvine after his recent performance.

She adds, "I am enjoying my time on X Factor NZ and I am super excited about the future."

It will be a busy year for the mother of two - Bassingthwaighte is also launching a children's clothing range called ChiKhi.

She tweets, "I have some exciting things in the pipeline that I can't wait to share with you all. Watch this space! With love and laughter. Nat."

Bassingthwaighte's exit from The X Factor Australia leaves just Dannii Minogue as the only surviving member of the current line-up. LMFAO star Redfoo was reportedly dropped from the show's judging panel earlier this month (Apr15).

New judges for the three vacant spots have yet to be unveiled. Auditions for season seven will begin later this year (15).