Bonnie Ryan may now be known for her beauty tips now, but in a past life, she was a singer.
Yes, she previously performed in a girl group called Lady Nada and toured with bands like Westlife as a teenager.
She has now shared that she flew to the UK to audition for X Factor but kept it a secret from her tight knit family.
She revealed the secret on her podcast with sister, Lottie.
The sisters were swapping “traumatising” stories a la the “We listen and we don’t judge” TikTok trend.
Bonnie said: “When I was younger, I flew to London and I auditioned for The X Factor and I didn’t get through. Nobody in our family knows.”
Lottie was left flabbergasted, saying: “You did what? What age were you? Why would you not have told me that before?”
Bonnie explained that she flew to London with her now-husband John to audition.
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“You look shocked. I was so traumatised that I didn’t get through. I flew to London. I had just finished school. I had to queue up for nine hours outside in the freezing cold,” she explained.
“At the end of the day, I went in and did my audition. I asked if I could sing a song that I had written myself, which now you would get top marks for, but back then it was, ‘Oh my god, no. You cannot do that’.”
Bonnie revealed that Louis Walsh knew she was going to audition. However, when they told her she couldn’t sing her own song, she scrambled as she had nothing else prepared.
“They asked me if I had a story. I was like, ‘What do you mean, do I have a story?’ Jaysus, I could give you a load of stories but I don’t want to get through on a sob story.’
“I didn’t give a story and they basically said no to me. I came out and John was with me. He was looking at me and went, ‘Well?’ He had queued with me for hours and I said, ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t get through’.”
She went on to say that the only people who knew about her X Factor audition were her husband John and her mum Moira.
“I was only 19 and I had to tell mum that I was flying to London for the night. She was obviously asking, ‘Why are you going to London?’,” she explained.
“I said, ‘Listen, I signed myself up to audition for X Factor, but I’m not telling anybody.’ I didn’t get through and thank god, I didn’t [tell anyone].
“At the time, it was traumatising for me. But now, I’m 32 and I couldn’t care less.”
Well, fair play Bonnie and it’s safe to say it all worked out in the end.