[Red Moon]

Alex's secret brother
X Factor favourite mum tells of fling that broke up marriage

X FACTOR star Alexandra Burke has a secret half- brother after her dad cheated on her pregnant mum, the News of the World can reveal.

Alexandra wasn’t even born when her father’s fling poisoned the marriage and her parents later split up.

Now the 20-year-old singer, a favourite to win the ITV show, refuses to meet or talk about her brother. But mum Melissa Bell, 44, former lead singer with Eighties mega group Soul II Soul, spoke of her joy at her daughter’s success and her regrets over the family’s troubles.

Melissa, 44, told how Alex’s dad David, 50, walked out on his family after his fling, leaving the child’s grandad Ivan to raise her for seven years while her mother toured the world.

Speaking exclusively to the News of the World, Melissa recalled: “There were lots of problems in my marriage, but really it was the cheating that killed it.

“Hardly anyone outside the family knows David got the other woman pregnant while I was expecting his second daughter.

“When Alex was young she would ask, ‘Where’s my dad?’ And I’d have to come up with excuses.

“But there was never any interest in seeing her half-brother. Alex never asked to meet him.

“She doesn’t consider him to be one of her brothers. We don’t consider that boy to be a part of our family, or a part of our lives in any way.

“I managed to forgive the cheating that conceived the boy. We stayed together for the sake of our children, but it was an open sore and when Alex was six that was it—we split and he was gone for 14 years.

In that time Alex hardly ever saw her dad, even though he lived just five miles away in Central London.

They finally patched things up at her sister Sheniece’s 22nd birthday party where Melissa’s kids, including David Jr, 21, and Aaron, 16, collared David and said it was time he came back into their lives.

But Melissa, who married Jamaican-born David when she was just 20, said: “We still don’t count the boy as one of David’s sons. We don’t mention his name though we know it.

“But we don’t even know what he looks like, and we’ve never wanted to know because we have our family and that is that.

“We don’t even know if he is alive, where he lives or if he has a family of his own. None of that.”

Alex has been reluctant to speak about about her family heartache or her mum’s illness—not wanting viewers to vote for her out of sympathy. Melissa is desperately ill with chronic kidney failure brought on by diabetes.

But Melissa revealed how brave Alex offered to risk her own health by donating one of her kidneys to save her. Amazingly, Alexandra’s pop star pal Joss Stone has said she too would have a test to see if she could be a donor.

Alex also refused to reveal she is at risk of inheriting the diabetes that nearly killed her mum this summer. Or that her grandmother, Melissa’s mum Ivy, died 16 years ago of the same diabetes-induced kidney failure that she may face.

One of Melissa’s greatest regrets is that her career meant she never saw her daughter perform live —including when she was on TV show Star For A Night where she sang, aged 12, with Joss.

Alexandra’s first live X Factor performance was meant to be the first time her mum would see her perform. But Alex was disappointed again when her mum’s kidney problem meant she was rushed to hospital. Melissa said: “When I finally did get to see her perform it was amazing. I was so proud.

“It’s overwhelming because Alex is fulfilling her dream and also fulfilling a dream of mine.”

Before that, in July, Alexandra had saved her mum’s life when she called an ambulance for her after she collapsed at home with kidney trouble. Melissa recalled: “Doctor’s said I nearly died. Thank God Alex was home.

“I feel much better now, but I will need a transplant.”

This week David said: “I wish Alex the absolute the best. I’m amazed and really proud.”

Source:News of the World