Matt Cardle opens up about addiction struggle after X Factor victory

X Factor winner Matt Cardle has opened up about struggling with addiction following the show.

Matt won the 2010 series of The X Factor, beating One Direction, Rebecca Ferguson and Cher Lloyd in the final.

But not long after, Matt says he found himself battling addiction to drink and drugs.

This week he made a candid confession: “I got lucky on a number of occasions not to have been found f****** cold.”

Opening up to The Sun newspaper, Matt revealed there were a “number of times” that he ended up close to death.

Matt admitted he struggled to cope not long after his victory on The X Factor.

“I was being rejected left, right and centre for a record, for all of this kind of stuff,” Matt said. “I was still coming down hard from a place where I didn’t have a label, I didn’t really have any management at the time, I didn’t have a steady place.

“And none of it was bitterness, but it’s just frustration about my fall from grace.”

Now Matt is set to release his brand new album Time To Be Alive which is out to pre-order.

“Signing this new deal with Sony is one of the proudest moments of my life,” Matt said in 2017. “After the highs of X Factor I sank to the darkest places I’ve ever been.

“But after overcoming addiction I finally found myself in a place where I was ready and able to create the album I have always wanted to. I then spent three years pouring blood, sweat and tears plus all my darkness and my hope into this album.”

Matt added: “I have come home to Sony but I’m in control this time.”

Matt will no doubt be hoping to follow in the footsteps of fellow X Factor alum James Arthur.

He too split from his record company shortly after winning, only to be resigned in 2016 before topping both the single and album charts with new music.