Alexandra Burke hates being single

While her family praise her for not needing a man, the 22-year-old singer admits she was reduced to tears when she recently went on holiday on her own.

She said: "My sister calls me the girl that never needs a man. She says, `You may as well just marry yourself.` But I hate being alone. That`s a different ball game.

"The other week I went away on holiday for five days to Morocco, and it`s the first time I`ve been away by myself. I cried on the plane. But I went to the souk, I ate every night alone, and I thought, `I can do this.?"

The `Start Without You` hitmaker - who won Simon Cowell`s pop star search show `The X Factor` in 2008 - also revealed she was forced to move away from the area she grew up in after she won the competition.

Alexandra added: "Growing up, all I knew was the Caledonian Road in north London. But after I won `X Factor` living there was difficult because of the kids. I remember once as I was driving in the gate they were trying to open the boot of my car, and then they started throwing stones. A week later I was gone.

"My mum said, `You really should move somewhere greener`, so I moved to Hertfordshire and I live in an area with a lot of old people so no one knows who I am. You just talk about your dogs."

sections: Celebrities