Former X Factor finalist Chris Maloney has had £60,000 of cosmetic surgery after being on the show left him depressed, balding and paranoid about his looks.
The singer suffered merciless bullying during the 2012 series from Twitter trolls who branded him Mr Potato Head and targeted him with death threats.
In the past two years he has spent more than 40 hours having three hair transplants, two nose jobs, an eyelid lift and teeth veneers – and says it has given him “a new lease of life”.
Chris, 37, who came third on the ITV talent show behind James Arthur and Jahméne Douglas, said: “I was having the time of my life at the start of the series but towards the end I started feeling more and more strained.
"That’s when I noticed my hair was starting to fall out in clumps.
“As I started feeling worse, my body started falling apart.”
Finally he was signed off sick and treated by doctors from the Priory clinic.
He said: “I fell into a very dark depression. My family were worried about what I was going to do to myself. I didn’t leave my bed for months.”
Finally the cloud of depression lifted, but the trolls’ cruel jibes about his looks still rankled.
Chris said: “I hated how big my nose was so I’ve had surgery twice on it – to make it smaller and change the way my profile looks.
“When the bandages first came off I looked in the mirror and had a complete panic attack because I was all bloody and bruised. Now I feel so much happier for it.”
He also researched treatment for hair loss and went on to have three transplants, at clinics in Sheffield, Liverpool and Poland.
He said: “They take strands from another part of my head and weave them into follicles at the front of my head to promote new hair growth. It’s a painful, long process.
"I hated looking at myself afterwards, all bloody and bandaged. But now I can see the results it’s worth it.
“I’ve also had my eyes lifted and special veneers put on to the front of my teeth.”
Chris, who paid half the cost of the work from money earned gigging and got the rest free for doing promotional work, said: “I’d like more procedures. I don’t think it’s vain. I think if it makes me happy, what does it matter what people think?”
Now ready to face the future, the former call centre worker has plenty to look forward to.
He is planning an autumn tour, runs the Chris Maloney Theatre and Arts Academy for young performers in his home city Liverpool and is engaged to marry his boyfriend Gary Doran.
But he also wants the next crop of X Factor contestants to learn from his experience on the show.
He said: “They need to make sure they have a lot of support from family and friends and a good management like I’ve got now to see them through the pressures."
