Former Idols sensation Jody Williams says the reality show “ruined” her life and made her quit show business. She says not only has winning the show in 2007 caused a massive rift in her family, but people who managed her career at the time also ripped her off big time.
So much so that she stopped singing five years later, instead getting a job as a receptionist “and I’ve never been happier”.
Jody was just 17 years old when she won Season 4 of the popular singing contest.
But instead of conquering the world with her one-of-a-kind voice, the now 29-year-old says her career turned into an out-of-control roller coaster ride of emotions that led to her spending cash like water and constant conflict in her family.
“Idols showed me the world, with travelling overseas and meeting international artists. I just saw the money and a good life, but that was just the child in me,” Jody tells the Daily Voice.
“If only we had a life coach and financial advisor back when I won Idols, I think things would have been so much different.
My father started getting uncomfortable with the people who managed me because things started looking off, because I was being conned by the agents who managed me.
“My father left his job to be my full-time manager, but we were at loggerheads a lot at times. And because he was my manager, it affected our relationship at home.”
Shortly after winning the R1 million prize on Idols, Jody bought her parents a fancy house in Durbanville.
But a mere four years later, she had trouble keeping up with the bond repayments.
“The gigs were drying up, the money was getting little, you know how it goes when a new Idols winner comes along, people stop booking the old Idols,” she says. Jody says she wanted to sell the house, but her parents refused.
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Source: IOL
