Leona Lewis backs Fabulous’ Baby, Bank On Us campaign & urges Brits to help struggling mums
AFTER the toughest of pregnancies, which saw her battling debilitating sickness, Leona Lewis was hoping for some respite after the birth.
But although the nausea finally subsided, postpartum anxiety set in, and the former X Factor winner found herself consumed with worry in the months that followed baby Carmel’s arrival last July.
“It was very, very hard,” she says.
“I’d get myself really worked up about whether she was eating enough, or if she was OK. I was so drained, so tired and then I’d have these anxious thoughts that kept me up, so I wasn’t ever able to rest. When she was napping, I’d be watching her instead of catching up on sleep. And the lack of sleep made things even worse.
“I’d been so sick throughout the whole pregnancy, I could hardly get out of bed. That went on literally up until she was born, so it [had already been] a lot, both physically and emotionally.”
The pressure grew so overwhelming that Leona, 38, went to counselling to help manage her feelings.
“I spoke to a counsellor, which was a big help to me,” she says, speaking from her home in LA close to the studio where we shot her for these stunning images.
“It’s so important if you can speak to someone about it. I spoke to my friends and mums about how I was feeling, and just knowing I wasn’t alone made such a difference.
“I worked on trying to carve out little moments when I could take a breath and have a break and rely on other people to help. But it took two or three months for it to simmer down and for me to start feeling like myself again. Motherhood has been such a wild, crazy ride.”
Leona’s personal experience during pregnancy and beyond is one of the reasons she’s backing our Baby, Bank On Us campaign, launched in partnership with Save The Children, Little Village and baby banks across the UK.
The community-focused initiative is calling on the public to volunteer their time and donate second-hand children’s items to their nearest baby bank.
It also aims to raise awareness of the vital work baby banks do and the benefits they bring to families, especially during a cost of living crisis, which is impacting households across the country.
Leona says she was inspired to help after realising how much she needed to lean on other people to carry her through those incredibly challenging first few months.
She wanted to find a way to help fellow mums who didn’t have the same support network or who couldn’t easily afford the essentials, such as nappies, clothes, slings, toys and prams.
“I was so lucky that I had a lot of support around me. And it made me think about the women who don’t have that, or don’t have access to it. I just want to do anything I can to help – since becoming a mum, my heart opens up to every mum I meet. I’m like: ‘Oh, I love you!’
“When Fabulous got in touch about Baby, Bank On Us, it felt perfect. This is exactly what I want to do. I’m fortunate enough to afford the necessities, but there are so many women and children who are not in the same position.”
Leona grew up in Hackney, east London, where many low-income families struggled, giving her a real understanding of what life is like below the poverty line, as well as first-hand knowledge about just how vulnerable this makes those children.
She might live a very comfortable life in Los Angeles now, but Leona’s deep sense of community was instilled in her by both parents – her mum Maria was a social worker for many years, while her dad Joe worked as a youth offending officer and now volunteers at a food bank – and burns bright to this day.
She says: “I grew up around that sense of supporting people and that feeds into the work I do now. I’ve always felt we need to use what we have to help others, especially if you’re in a position where you can.
“Even people who are working full-time can’t afford food at the moment. My dad sees this happening – he talks to me about the people he’s meeting day-to-day and it’s desperate out there right now.”
It’s been 17 years since Leona became an overnight superstar on The X Factor, winning the show and going on to have a No.1 debut album on both sides of the Atlantic.
Her biggest-selling single Bleeding Love topped the charts in 35 countries in 2008. She has sold more than 35 million records worldwide and is a three-times Grammy nominee.
Still as softly spoken, thoughtful and sweet-natured as she was back then, Leona admits now she was utterly unprepared for the cut and thrust of the often-brutal music industry.
She had no idea just how quickly and completely life was going to change as she was swept away in the post-X Factor madness.
“I was not prepared at all. I just loved to sing and didn’t think that it would ever take me to where it has. I recently did [American talk show] The Jennifer Hudson Show and they showed a little clip of me from back then and, oh my god! I first entered when I was 19 – I was just a baby.”
By 2014, Leona was at breaking point. She’d released four albums in eight years under Simon Cowell’s Syco label, but felt increasingly at odds with her record industry bosses.
They had been pushing for her to release a covers album, which Leona felt would compromise what she stood for as an artist, and so she took the brave decision to walk away, later writing an open letter to fans, in which she admitted to having been “extremely depressed” over the previous 12 months.
She described reaching a place where “the downs were outweighing the ups”.
Looking back, she says she was absolutely terrified.
“As a young woman working with a big, powerful label, it was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done,” she says.
“It meant jumping into the abyss and seeing where I landed. But I’ve always acted with integrity, and I knew the songs I wanted to sing and the emotions I wanted to convey, and I knew that it just wasn’t working.
“And sometimes you have to walk away from things, even though that’s hard. It was like a relationship that you probably shouldn’t be in any more, but you stay in it, despite the fact that it doesn’t feel quite right, because it’s hard to break away.
“And I’m so glad I did, because I got to go on a different journey and stay true to myself. And I felt very empowered as a woman after taking that decision. I didn’t let fear hold me back and that felt very powerful to me. It helped to build my confidence, which I really needed at that time.”
Leona signed with Island Records and went on to release 2015 album I Am. She insists there are no hard feelings with Simon Cowell and, nearly a decade on, their relationship has never been better.
“I love Simon. Like anything, you go through things and sometimes they make you stronger. He’s been there a lot for me and we have a really good relationship now, one that has blossomed throughout the years and especially since he had [his son] Eric.
“He’s always very supportive of my projects and he’s a really good guy. When Coco [Leona’s nickname for daughter Carmel] was born, he sent me a beautiful frame, which I’ve got her sonogram picture in, so it’s really sweet.”
But despite Leona and Simon’s close ties, several former X Factor contestants, including Katie Waissel and Cher Lloyd, have called into question the duty of care on the show, which was officially cancelled in 2021, after 17 years on air.
Leona says, if it hadn’t been for the support of her tight-knit family, she may well have struggled to cope.
“My parents have always been really strong figures in my life and were at every single show I’d ever done since I was 10 years old. Even after I won The X Factor, it was their mission to be at every show, somehow.
“And honestly, if it hadn’t been for them, I don’t know what I would have done, because they were there to back me up all the time. I can’t speak on other people’s experiences because I don’t know what support they had around them.
“But I also had a really great management team. My manager Nicola Carson, who I first met in The X Factor house, has been with me from that day to now, and I feel really lucky to have had that.”
Away from the spotlight, Leona has settled in LA, where she has lived for several years with choreographer husband Dennis Jauch, 34.
She runs Coffee And Plants, a plant-based coffee shop with two sites.
Admittedly, life sounds pretty idyllic, although she does say that London will always be home.
“I get to go back and forth a lot. I have the freedom to go home and see my family and be back here [in LA] when I need to. My husband’s work is here, so that’s a big factor as well.
“I see myself as living in both places. I enjoy the nature, the lifestyle and the sun of LA, and I have a big creative community with lots of musicians and singers and I really love that. But home for me will always be London.”
Leona and Dennis, who is German, met back in 2010 when he was a dancer on her tour. They married in Tuscany nine years later.
“I’ve always been so close to my mum and dad, but now Dennis and I have our own little family unit, which is so beautiful,” says Leona. “Having Coco has definitely brought us closer. We’re a family now and I’m just enjoying that so much.
“Every day there’s something new with Coco, which is amazing. I put her hair in a little ponytail for the first time today. It’s only about five strands of hair, but I love it! She’s very opinionated and knows what she wants and it’s so funny seeing her little personality coming through.”
How has motherhood changed Leona?
“I’ve become laser-focused instead of splitting my time and energy between a million different things. I don’t want to miss anything, so I have to be really conscious of what I choose to put my energy into.”
That means focusing on passion projects, like her sustainable cafes – for every 100 cups of coffee sold, they plant a tree with the National Forest Foundation, and profits help fund Hopefield Animal Sanctuary in Essex.
She also recently recorded One Step Closer, the theme song to AppleTV+ series Jane and as far as a new album goes, she’s “back in the studio” and “in the process of creating and seeing where I want to go to next.”
Plus, a UK Christmas With Love tour is scheduled for this winter.
Stepping off the hamster wheel and learning to be choosy has helped Leona find some much-needed balance in life. Although she admits motherhood has inevitably tipped it off kilter again.
“When the baby came along, it was a bit like: ‘OK, now I need to do another recheck!’
“But the work-life balance is definitely better. It’s not perfect and I’m still working on it and figuring it out, but I’m in a place where it’s a lot more settled than it was before.”
FABULOUS' BABY BANK ON US CAMPAIGN
THE cost of living crisis has left many families with young kids struggling. To help, Fabulous is launching Baby, Bank On Us, in partnership with Save The Children, Little Village and baby banks across the UK.
The initiative has three aims:
- Increasing local support by calling on the public to volunteer time and donate items to their nearest baby bank.
- Raising vital funds to support the work of baby banks.
- Uniting baby banks across the UK by increasing understanding and raising awareness of the vital work they do, and the benefits this brings families. Plus, improving resource sharing.
How you can help:
- Give clothing, toys and essentials to a baby bank, wherever you are in the UK.
- Give your time volunteering.
To find your nearest baby bank, visit Littlevillagehq.org/uk-baby-banks.
What are baby banks?
Baby banks provide essential items for babies and young children whose parents are living in poverty – including nappies, wipes, clothing, bedding, Moses baskets, cots, blankets, toys and books.
There are over 200 baby banks in the UK, and they run out of shops, community centres, warehouse units and even people’s living rooms and garages.
Last year 4.2 million children in the UK were living in poverty and 800,000 children lived in a household that used a food or baby bank.