Former X Factor winner Alexandra Burke has revealed that she didn't have the confidence to speak up about suffering domestic abuse.

The singer admitted that she suffered the alleged abuse at the hands of an ex-boyfriend, deciding to leave him when the attacks got too much. Talking to the Daily Mirror, she said:

"It was horrendous. 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 however hopes that her fame can help to bring the spotlight onto the issue. She added:

"God's blessed me to be able to have a voice and I don't mean in a singing way. 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."

Watch Alexandra Burke's winning X Factor song 'Hallelujah' below: