Leon and No1 fan on tough road to fame
By Dan Wootton
POSING together for the first time since that incredible X Factor
triumph, winner Leon and his mum Wendy speak exclusively to the
News of the World about their tough life together.
Click
to watch our video interview
Their inspirational story, marked by tragedy and grinding poverty,
led to 18-year-old shop worker Leon capturing the hearts of the
nation. Now they tell Jane Atkinson and Rav Singh about single
mum Wendy's struggle to bring up the boy she doted on—and
reveal in moving and tender anecdotes what they mean to each other.
Him on her
AT THE very mention of his mum's name, out comes the shy, gap-toothed
smile that won the hearts of millions of X Factor fans.
 Wendy
is the central figure in Leon's life. The inspiration behind his
victory. And he loves nothing better than talking about her.
"I would die for her," he says. "I looked for her face in the
audience before singing every song. And when I sang I kept her
face in my mind.
"I did all this for her, to give her so much back is truly fantastic.
We are like best buds."
She has raised him since his father Philip walked out on them
when Leon was two. He never met his dad, who later died of pneumonia.
Mother and son were left to struggle in poverty on £55 a week
with Wendy doing part-time jobs while his gran Jean, 61, looked
after him. "Being a single parent was hard for my mum—but I have
never done without," says 18-year-old Leon.
"She prioritised her money. The bills were paid off first and
she sacrificed her own social life for me. She didn't go out drinking
or have a car. We didn't have family holidays—we just had bus
trips to the seaside.
 "Mum
would always make sure I got wonderful presents, though. When
I was 11 I saw a BMX bike and told my mum I wanted it for Christmas
but she said, ‘Sorry, pal, I can't afford it'.
"She'd already got my big present—a pair of boots for school.
So on Christmas morning I opened up the boots and wasn't expecting
anything else. She asked me to get something from the kitchen
and when I went in, there was the bike. I cried with happiness."
When Leon was 15 Wendy was able to return to full-time work as
a receptionist. He says: "She didn't want to live on benefits.
She wanted to work and went to college to get computer and typing
skills. She felt worthy earning her own money." Leon was determined
not to take her for granted— so from the age of 16 he got jobs
in Iceland and Gap to help her.
 And
he saved up to give her a treat she would never forget. "When
she was 40 this year I paid £300 for her to have a day at a health
spa—Stobo Castle in Peebleshire. I secretly packed her a case
with a robe and slippers and told her to get up at 7am.
"She couldn't believe it when I drove her to this beautiful castle.
She had several treatments while I waited in my car. I kept popping
in to see how they'd gone.
"She was really excited, saying, ‘Oh, I've had hot stone therapy',
then ‘I have just had my legs exfoliated'. She loved it."
Now doting son Leon just wants to have a quiet time at home in
Whitburn, West Lothian, with Wendy as he celebrates his X Factor
Christmas number one with When You Believe.
He knows he may have to move to London and leave his mum to further
his singing career. But with the love she has given him, he says:
"I'm not worried, I feel like I have the world at my feet.
"I am the person I am today because of my mum. And I know that
wherever I am I will always make time to see her."
Her on him
SHE is glowing with the pride only a mother can feel. For 40-year-old
Wendy Jackson a dream has come true.
The little boy she has fought so hard to bring up has made it
in life against all the odds.
Speaking exclusively to the News of the World,
Wendy says: "I am so happy for Leon. I truly am. When he was announced
as the X Factor winner all I could do was cry. I was so elated.
"The whole thing has amazed me. There are no singers from either
side of his family and he only began doing karaoke in January.
I thought it was rushed when he said he was going for X Factor
but he was brilliant. I couldn't be more proud of what he has
achieved."
Until now life has always been a struggle for Wendy and her boy.
"Before he was born I was doing factory and catering jobs. But
I had him at 21, I wasn't married and I brought him up as a single
mum.
"We couldn't afford a phone and out of our £55 a week we had
to pay the water rates, the poll tax and the gas and electricity
too.
"But I saved up to get him everything I possibly could. He is
my only son and I never wanted any more children, just Leon. He
said to me years ago that he would like a brother or sister but
I told him it was too late for me."
Despite their lack of money, Wendy always tried to give him a
happy childhood. They would go on summer bus trips to Ayr, Portobello
near Edinburgh and even Blackpool to go to the seaside.
Wendy said: "He was always very creative when he was a child
and I remember once we went away and he made a Porsche car out
of the sand.
"Everybody was coming over and admiring it. His gran said we
should put a hat out next to him and get some tips! He was always
creative and a wonderful little boy."
But she knows winning X Factor will also mean Leon leaving the
maisonette he has shared with her his entire life. Wendy says:
"When I was about 18 I lived down in London with Leon's dad for
a bit. It's too big a place and I didn't like being there—but
I know that Leon will probably have to move down there.
"I will miss him loads but he would have been leaving home with
or without X Factor. He is 19 next week and all lads that age
leave home. Every parent knows that he is going to leave home
at some point."
The mother and son are extremely close but Leon has never brought
a girlfriend home to meet Wendy.
He says: "I haven't had a serious enough girlfriend to introduce
to my mum. The relationships I have had have been a bit of fun
because I was always too busy concentrating on other things like
my karate."
Leon has made no secret of the fact that he wants to change his
mum's life—and buy her a new home.
Wendy says: "I just want a wee bungalow with a back and a front
door.
"At the moment we are in a block of four flats and I have to
walk out of the front door and right around the back to hang my
washing on the line."
Thanks to Leon, those days will soon be over.
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