Marcus Collins has explained why he decided not to use a "sob story" during his stint on The X Factor.
The Liverpudlian singer, who finished runner-up on last year's series of the talent show, believes that the public would have been sceptical about his revelations.
Collins told Attitude magazine: "I knew if I said, 'I grew up in a council flat, just me and my mum, we had nothing, my mum's had cancer, I thought I was going to be orphaned and out and on my own', people would be like, 'So what? Sob story, he's just making it up'."
The 'Seven Nation Army' star added: "I didn't want to do that. It had nothing to do with anything.
"Yeah, it just made me work harder, but so what? Everyone works hard. So I was very conscious not to do a big sob story."
His debut album is released next Monday (March 12).
