X Factor winner Reece Mastin reveals his battle with depression

IN the aftermath of his 2011 X Factor win, Adelaide singer Reece Mastin was everywhere, with number-one selling singles and huge albums. But the reality was much darker.

Adelaide rocker Reece Mastin. Picture: IAN RITTER

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ADELAIDE rocker Reece Mastin has revealed he struggled with depression in the aftermath of The X Factor.

Reece says he spiralled into a “black hole” following his win as a 16-year-old on Seven’s reality talent show and it’s taken him several years to recover.

“It’s hard when you’re in the public view, you’ve got to put on this happy persona, you don’t want to pick up the phone and talk to someone but you’re miserable as all f****ng hell,” says Reece, who’s released a new single Not The Man for You.

“When you’re 16 years old, it’s not something you think about (depression), it’s not even on your radar especially when you’re given the opportunity to play around the country.

“It got to a point, the more I was spending time with myself or trying to get to know myself, the more I didn’t like what I was seeing in the mirror.

Reece Mastin, then aged 16, after winning reality TV singing show X Factor Australia's 2011 series.

Mastin in 2017, ahead of a performance at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse in Sydney in 2017. Picture: AAP / Joel Carrett

“I’ve had quite a bit of therapy in the last couple of years which has been amazing. It’s way better than going to the bottle in the fridge. That’s one of the massive things I’ve been dealing with. I was at that place ... it was actually just a black role, a rabbit’s hole of emotions going down and down.”

Now aged 23, the former teen heart-throb has found peace with himself and has a new independent EP Suitcase of Stories also coming out early next month. The tracks come with a new rock’n’roll sound which he says just “feels right”.

“There’s something about this record, it’s really honest. I really think writing music is quite therapeutic,” he says, with a gig at Fowler’s Live on April 29 part of his upcoming national tour.

“But this record is not all doom and gloom. There’s a lot of fun stuff on there as well.

“I don’t have to pretend to be happy any more because I actually am.”

Originally published as X Factor winner Reece Mastin reveals his battle with depression