Conor Maynard has spoken out for the first time since the end of his paternity scandal.
In June of last year, The Traitors star Charlotte Chilton accused singer-songwriter Conor of being the father of her unborn baby. She later went on to give birth to her daughter, Penelope, last October.
After months of silence, Conor finally announced in March that he had carried out a DNA test, which proved that he is not the baby’s father.
Now, for the first time since he released his statement, Conor has decided to open up about the situation.
Speaking on ITV’s This Morning with hosts Alison Hammond and Paddy McGuinness, the 32-year-old was asked why he has chosen to speak out now.
“The last year has been really difficult. Mental health is something I have struggled with for a big portion of my life,” he began, adding: “This year has definitely been up there with my battle with it.”
“More importantly than me, there was this child at the heart of this entire situation, who will one day grow up and be able to see this for herself. It was very difficult to understand that this was all happening without anyone really knowing the true story,” Conor continued.
“I was aware of the situation before [the news broke], but I had no idea that it was going to go to the press. In my mind, the natural proceeding would be a paternity test, to make sure that everything is 100% certain, and then we deal with it accordingly. Obviously, that’s not the way it went,” he recalled.
“It was difficult to remain silent. I was instantly painted as a dead-beat dad. All of my comments across all of my social media were very much all about that,” Conor confessed.
When asked how he felt about the paternity test results, Conor reflected: “Funnily enough, it wasn’t an instant relief. I actually felt like I was going to have a massive panic attack the second I found out.”
“It was more just confusion. Not really understanding and feeling like, ‘Why did that all have to happen?’” Conor quizzed, before concluding: “When the result came in I can’t even begin to explain to you how unbelievable [it was]. It wasn’t an instant relief. It has taken a lot of time to process, and to accept that I will never understand."
