A MANCOT man who suffered with severe depression found a new lease of life after joining his local gym.

Former X-Factor star Kenneth Prestidge, known on the show as Justine, aims to enter a body building competition after he found the ‘only thing that made life worth living’.

He told the Leader that he has gone from ‘drag queen to muscle queen’.

Kenneth, whose equity name is Justin Watson Hermes, said: “Severe depression hampered my life and at one point I tried to end my own life.

“A neighbour heard the engine running and pulled me out unconscious just in time.

“The draw of farming always brought me back to earth and I restarted as a tenant farmer but after a number of years when the milk price fell very low, I gave up and moved to Spain and leased a bar in Benidorm.

“I’d borrowed a hell of a lot of money from the bank and the bar failed and I had to go bust in 2017. I came back to UK with a couple of suitcases and a 1000euros. Depression again drove me to the edge, and I was at the most bottom of my life as one could be.

The Leader:

“My parents both died, I was a complete wreck. I was eating too much getting old and fat and on November 24, 2017 I joined PT fitness in Mold and started gym and weights also started doing the keto diet.

“I lost a stone and a half and 4 inches around my middle. I still do get terribly depressed but after an hour in the gym it lifts my mood no end. It was the only thing that made life worth living and I’m as fit as a butcher’s dog now even though I’m nearly 66.

“I’m hoping to enter an over 65 body building competition in the autumn, from drag queen to muscle queen.”

Kenneth, who now lives in Pentre Halkyn, said growing up he was a ‘somewhat feminine child’ and was told he was ‘not manly enough’ to be a farmer.

After leaving school at 15, he went to work for a local dairy farmer and joined the Dairy Shorthorn Cattle Society.

He added: “Even though I was quite shy I didn't want to be like any other boys I wanted to be different and stand out.

“I always bleached my hair and worn makeup from an early age, Gender Bending as it was called those days and I seemed to fit in that way - but rather than go off to a city with fellow eccentrics, I carried on in farming. I was two sides to a coin at complete opposite ends and didn't really fit in anywhere.”

The 65-year-old used to perform songs under the name Jamie Lyvern but never pushed anything due to his love for farming and cattle as it ‘drew him back to earth’.

He told the Leader he became friends with now well-known actor Ian Puleston Davies, whose dad was a farmer near Flint and despite Ian going off to train as an actor, Kenneth progressed as a tenant farmer.

However, at the age of 48 he moved to London after securing an audition for the Acting School as the ‘draw of fame’ beckoned him.

Although Kenneth wanted to be a comedy actor, he auditioned for the X-Factor after being encouraged to try for it.

He said: “To my surprise I kept getting through the auditions which there were about 4 then actually got to sing in front of the judges in the 2nd series in 2005.

“I had an equity name Justin Watson Hermes. I wasn't very good singing in my counter tenor voice but Sharon Osbourne liked me a lot and Louis Walsh wanted me to come back dressed in drag. Simon Cowell asked would I do it and I came back as Justine.

“After that I was struck down with colon cancer and nearly died, but did appear in a few tv programmes and also Coronation Street, always in drag.”