[Red Moon]

'Witch hunt' upset departing Rachel

"People are hating me because of the life I used to live".

In tears at some points in the interview, Rachel Hylton says she felt the odds were always stacked against her in The X Factor competition.

And she has spoken out about "A blatant witch hunt to get me off that show. I'm not happy".

Rachel has made no secret about her troubled past, which included problems with drugs and spells in prison.

But the 26 year-old mum-of-five reckons that her attempts to turn her life around have been thwarted by what she reckons amounts to a newspaper hate campaign.

"Every week there was a story in the paper. Every Saturday, there was something bad about either Dannii or me. They were trying to turn people against me".

"I've kept quiet about this for so long, but I'm really, really upset. I am opening my mouth now because I haven't done anything wrong".

In the past few weeks, newspapers have carried stories about a pending trial involving Rachel's brother, former victims of her crimes, and negative stories sold by people she knew. She's also been accused of making gang gestures on the show.

She told us, "I am not happy about the life I used to live. I am not proud of it. But that's not who I am anymore".

"I told everyone my history right away on my show. I didn't have to say it. I could've waited for you to find out - but I wanted people to be able to trust me. I'm not here to lie. I came here to do the thing I love, I just came to sing."

"By week four or five the press started hounding me, printing this, printing that".

Rachel felt she was in a no-win situation. She said of the press, "What did you want me to do? Continue the path to destruction and lose my other two children"?

"Is that what people wanted for me? It seems I can't do right for doing wrong".

"I know I've made mistakes but I hoped people would allow me to pick myself up and make the most of this chance".

"Don't I have the right, just like anybody else walking this planet, to try to better myself"?

And very upset, she explained quietly, "I know I've made mistakes and I know those mistakes have been very detrimental, especially to my first three children [who are in care]".

"I hold my hands up to all of that. I know having five children at 26 isn't good".

"But anyone who thinks I don't care about them or think about them is absolutely wrong".

"I'd say to the people who write those things, 'You've hurt me, you've hurt my family. You've hurt my kids. Now people out there think I don't think about my kids who are not with me. That is absolutely not true".

And she said, "My biggest hurt from it all is knowing that my eldest son Tristan was watching the TV, and reading all that stuff in the papers about me".

"I am deeply saddened by that".

Source: ITV