Alexandra Burke suffered 'horrendous' domestic violence

Alexandra Burke has revealed that she has been a victim of domestic violence.

The X Factor champion claimed that she was abused by an ex-boyfriend for over a year when she was a teenager.

"It was horrendous," she told The Mirror. "I couldn't talk to anyone about it. That's the whole point of domestic violence, you don't speak about what you're going through - you don't have the confidence to.

"I remember one day when he went to hit me one more time and I decided that was it. I was out of the door in my pyjamas and left, gone."

Burke, who has been working with a Comic Relief-funded domestic abuse charity in Uganda, added that she was grateful for her success and the chance to reach a wide audience when speaking out on issues of importance.

"God's blessed me to be able to have a voice and I don't mean in a singing way," she said. "If I start talking on Twitter or Facebook about domestic violence and what you can do to stop it, then I'm lucky I'll be heard.

"No-one at any time in their life, whatever age or country they're from, should ever go through domestic violence... No man should put their hand on a woman or treat her like she's a slave or a doormat, it's not right.

"Women are beautiful and strong and shouldn't be treated any other way, no matter where you happen to be in the world. But there will be a happy ending for a lot of women if they get help."

Burke revealed yesterday (November 25) that her second studio album will be "more womanly" and "sexier" than her debut Overcome.