Cher Lloyd felt 'really vulnerable' during her time on The X Factor

Cher Lloyd felt "really vulnerable" when she was on The X Factor as she was pursued by paparazzi when she was only 16 years old.

The Swagger Jagger singer shot to fame on the 2010 series of the TV competition and ultimately finished in fourth place behind One Direction, Rebecca Ferguson, and the winner Matt Cardle.

Discussing her time on the show with fellow contestant Rylan Clark, Lloyd admitted she felt "vulnerable" as photographers would pursue her as she left the studio.

"At times I'd get really angry. I felt angry because I'd go to a rehearsal, leave the studio, and (be) chased on my own, chased by a group of 20 to 25 men with cameras," the 28-year-old said on Clark's new podcast Ry-Union. "I just felt really vulnerable. There'd be a chaperone person for everyone as a group, of course, we were underage.

"But at times, from walking to the studio or a car, you'd be alone. That didn't stop. The sheer amount of paparazzi that would wait outside of those studios."

And despite being only 16 years old, she claimed the paparazzi would try to take pictures up her skirt when she got in and out of a car.

"I just always remember knowing not to wear a skirt without shorts," she recalled. "You'd go to get in the car and the first thing they'd do was place the camera below. It happened all the time and I just think, I spent a lot of time being very frustrated that I felt alone."

Elsewhere during the interview, Lloyd said that she'd love to meet up with the One Direction stars, who she lived with while filming the show, saying, "I think they are such genuinely nice people, not one of them was ever any trouble."

One Direction - compromised of Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson - have been on hiatus since 2016.