The 24 year old X Factor winner, Leona Lewis, has already seen the benefits of having been taken under Simon Cowell’s wing as she swaps her roots in Hackney for her top of the tree life style in Hollywood.

Originally Lewis had pledged to stay loyal to London, the city that spawned the Bleeding Love singer and from where she was catapulted to stardom. But now it appears the celebrity bug has bitten Miss Lewis as she has bought herself a $2.2m home in the Beverly Hills..

In 2006, the former Pizza Hut waitress won the third series of The X Factor and was handed a £1million recording contract with Cowell’s label and quickly bought her, and her boyfriend Lou Al-Chamaa, a two bedroom flat in Hackney, East London, but now she’s leaving that all behind, boyfriend and all, to live just down the street from Simon’s $15,000,000 mansion.

A friend told the media, ‘She plans to spend a lot more time out in the States at her new home. She made a lot of money and she thought it made sense as she is recording her album out there. She will also need to spend a lot of time promoting her album as she really wants to crack America. She finds it difficult to be away from her family and has already had trouble with a fan, but she knows she is going to have to do it if she wants to be successful.’

So maybe boyfriend Lou should make sure Leona puts her own ‘X’ in the right place on the deeds to the 2 bed to secure himself a small part of her fortune in Hackney!