Robbie Williams, Ayda Field and Louis Tomlinson will be joining Simon Cowell on the panel for this year’s series of The X Factor.
What do we know about the three newcomers who will hold the fate of budding music stars in their hands?
Louis Tomlinson
Louis Tomlinson’s return to The X Factor as a judge comes eight years after he rose to fame on the talent show, as a member of One Direction.
He originally took part in the series as a solo singer but he – along with Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Niall Horan – was manufactured into one of the most popular and lucrative acts to ever come from the series, despite the boy band only coming in third place that year.
At just 26, Doncaster-born Tomlinson has toured the world, scored four number one albums with his bandmates, garnered several headlines of his own accord and kick-started his own solo career.
In March 2017, Tomlinson was arrested at Los Angeles International airport for allegedly attacking a photographer. His brush with the law came after he faced a personal tragedy the previous year when his mother Johannah Deakin died at the age of 43 from cancer.
Earlier in 2016, Tomlinson became the first of the One Direction stars to become a father when he welcomed son Freddie Reign with ex-partner, stylist Briana Jungwirth.
Since One Direction went on hiatus in January 2016, Tomlinson has carved out his own career as a musician in the dance-pop genre, releasing his debut solo single Just Hold On with American DJ Steve Aoki in December 2016. The single went to number two in the UK charts, and its follow-up – Back To You featuring Bebe Rexha – peaked at number eight. He promised fans earlier this year that his debut solo album is on the way.
Robbie Williams and Ayda Field
Robbie Williams is considered one of the UK’s leading pop stars, having manage to forge a wildly successful solo career after waving goodbye to popular boy band Take That in the mid-1990s.
He dabbled with a return to Take That more than 10 years later, but the majority of his accomplishments have come from his solo career, which includes 10 number one studio albums and two chart-topping greatest hits compilations, 13 solo Brit Awards – one of which cites his impact on British culture – and the accolade of being one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
The 44-year-old Stoke-on-Trent star’s personal life has been littered with controversies, and he has previously battled addictions to drink, drugs and prescription medication, and has spoken about his mental health issues.
His wife Ayda Field, a Turkish-American actress, has acted in the likes of American soap opera Days Of Our Lives, Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip and sitcom Back To You, but she has become arguably a bigger name in the UK since embarking on her relationship with Williams.
Williams and Field, who have been an item for around 12 years, married in 2010 and have two children together – daughter Theodora Rose and son Charlton Valentine.
Field, 39, is now often seen as a panellist on ITV’s Loose Women, and is featured on her husband’s social media timelines. In 2014, the singer jokingly gave his fans updates throughout her labour with their son Charlton, including a picture of her with feet wide apart while on a hospital bed, ready to give birth.