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Friday, 8 February 2008

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Leona Lewis: Most of my friends have been shot, stabbed or beaten up

X Factor winner hits out at youth crime

Leona Lewis is concerned about the level of teenage crime in the UK capital.

The X Factor winner grew up in Hackney and reveals that violence permeates her world.

‘Most of my friends have been shot, stabbed or beaten up,’ she says. ‘Not so much the girls but the guys.

'There was 17-year-old boy shot dead before Christmas in my area. All my friends have been in trouble. It's part of being young in London.’

But Leona, 22, reckons her strict upbringing kept her grounded.

‘I always had a goal, which kept me off the streets. I didn't get involved in trouble because I was so focused on singing,’ she tells Cosmopolitan. ‘My parents had rules, like when it was dark they wanted me home.’

See Leona Lewis’s Bleeding Love in this video…

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