Former X Factor contestant Bella Penfold has opened up on an ordeal that saw her “attacked and mugged” for her phone.
The 25-year old made it to the quarter final stage of the ITV show’s final series in 2018, which was won by Dalton Harris. Now working as an influencer, Bella has taken to Instagram account to discuss the incident, which occurred in London earlier this week.
Now recovering and clearly shaken, Bella has pleaded with the brands she’s involved with to be “patient” as she comes to terms with the attack. She told her 59,000 followers on Thursday (May 2): “Last night I was attacked and mugged in London. Phone was taken.”
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Bella continued: “All brands waiting on content please be patient with me. Anyone who needs to contact me please message this account.”
(Image: Dymond/Thames/Syco/REX/Shutterstock)
Content creator Bella shares regular updates with her, which most recently saw her decked out in tennis gear as she promoted gym wear company, Fabletics. And in the last two weeks she has also colloaborated with Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty, showcasing her curves in a chocolate brown lingerie set.
Bella captioned her tennis look: “You only live once, but you get to serve twice.” One fan gushed in response: “Oh wow, you look so confident.” Another penned: “So cute.” And a third said: “Beautiful.”
(Image: bellaofficial/Instagram)
Six years ago Bella’s incredible performance of Stormzy’s Blinded By Your Grace prompted Simon Cowell to push his golden buzzer for the first time on the show – something seen previously only on his other production, Britain’s Got Talent.
It landed Bella a place in Simon’s Girls category and a trip to his home in Malibu where he was assisted by pals including Sinitta, Leona Lewis and Paul Abdul. She duly made it through to the live shows, with runner-up Scarlett Lee, Shana Ako and Molly Scott also in her category.
(Image: bellaofficial/Instagram)
Speaking to the Star exclusively during her X Factor stint, Bella told us: “I feel like I’ve had to work just as hard or even harder to prove myself as I did get some critics saying I didn’t deserve the buzzer so I wanted to come back and show that I am improving and I am trying.
“What is a big shame, is that you don’t always get to see what goes on behind the scenes – you don’t always see how hard a contestant is working. You know sometimes people are amazing on the stage but then there are some other people that work really hard behind the scenes as well. So you know I think people need to be mindful that just because I was given the golden buzzer, it doesn’t mean I wasn’t working my hardest.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
