Leona Lewis - From Hackney To Hollywood

Leona Lewis has bought a new house. Interestingly it is situated just a couple of miles from Simon Cowell's mansion in the Hollywood Hills. But enough of all that.

Miss Lewis eventually settled on the five-bedroom home after being shown around a couple of months ago and she is currently renting it at a cost of £7,000 a month.

It has its own swimming pool and outside bar, while the inside of the property has been furnished with flat-screen televisions and a leather sofa.

The move comes as a surprise as Miss Lewis said at the end of last year that she could not bear to 'uproot' herself from Britain.

The luxuriousness of the £1.5million property will certainly make a change from the £120,000 two-bedroom flat in Hackney she bought last year with her boyfriend, electrician Lou Al-Chamaa.

He will still live there, but Miss Lewis has told friends that she will be based in the U.S. while recording and promoting her new album.

I say good luck to Leona. She seems to be a lovely girl and very down to earth. I watched her win the X-Factor in 2006 and before, during and after every performance, some of which brought the house down, she was just this meek, mild mannered girl from London who everyone adored.

She isn't an arrogant, bad tempered 'diva' like a lot of female artists are these days and for me, she deserves every single penny her new found fame brings her. You go girl, we all love ya!