X Factor star who faced battle against deportation is unrecognisable 14 years after quitting fame
AN X Factor star who fought against deportation is unrecognisable, 14 years after giving up fame.
Gamu Nhengu, 31, appeared on the singing contest back in 2010 but lost her place to Katie Waissel.
Around the same time, 18-year-old Gamu faced a public battle to stay in the country as she risked being sent back to Zimbabwe.
Thankfully, she and her family were granted the right to remain in the UK.
Since then, she has gone very much under the radar - despite a brief comeback attempt in 2013 and a nationwide campaign to find her, which was launched by Rylan Clark.
Back in 2016, The Sun revealed she had been working as a stylist in Topshop and was gearing up to make her comeback in a band.
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But, according to her LinkedIn profile, Gamu quit her job the following year, soon to be employed by The Chapar, a menswear styling startup.
Just months earlier, she tied the knot with Scottish music shop worker Jamie Rintoul, who she remains with today.
Gamu's beau regularly features in her Instagram posts, where she has over two thousand followers.
The former talent show hopeful appears to have given up her dreams of making it in the music industry, which will come as a disappointment to many.
Just yesterday, she reflected on the past year in a photo dump, which saw her surrounded by friends and family in cheery images.
Gamu previously admitted she turned fans away when they stopped her in the street and pretended she was somebody else.
She wrote on social media, “To be completely honest I was trying very hard to pretend that the past 6 years had not happened.
"If you stopped me in the street and asked me if I was 'Gamu from X factor' I 99% probably would've said 'no' . And honestly if you do it now it might still be the same.
“I'm 24 now and I see myself as a baby when I entered into the music industry, something I was wholly unprepared for.
"I wish someone had pulled me to the side and forewarned me that it was 80% sleepless nights and 20% a bit of a giggle.
“I let other people speak for me, dress me and reroute me until ' me' had become nothing but a mere concept. I was young and incredibly naive. Too polite for my own good, never standing up for myself.
"Never exposing lies that were spread. Instead I just hid away and tried to pretend it wasn't happening.”
