Late Tom Parker recalls heartbreaking childhood moments in upcoming memoir

The Wanted singer Tom Parker recalled the heartbreaking childhood moments that inspired him to seek a life in the spotlight in his upcoming memoir Hope: My Inspirational Life.

Tom, who died at the age of 33 on March was fighting with stage four glioblastoma since October 2020 wrote that he suffered at the hands of cruel bullies who taunted him for his appearance and stole his backpack for days at a time.

Pop star admitted he 'learned the hard way that the key to a more fulfilling lifestyle is to just be yourself' before he lost himself in music with his older brother Lewis as his tutor, before going on to unsuccessfully audition for The X Factor ahead of his rise to fame.

As serialised by The Sun, Tom said he loved to sing as a child but wrote: 'In my first year I started wanting to fit in with the cool crowd. I began to hide parts of myself and stopped singing as much.

 'I learned the hard way that the key to a more fulfilling lifestyle is to just be yourself.

'I had to put up with a lot of s**t in order to be accepted by the popular kids. It wasn’t overtly bullying, but a general toxicity.'

He went on to say that he was teased because of his height, adding that the parka jacket he used to wear led to him being nicknamed after the character Saj from the 1999 film East Is East.

'I literally wasn’t called Tom throughout the whole of my time at school,' he added.

He continued: 'The final straw came when my backpack full of GCSE work was stolen in Year 11, and it took me a week to get it back.