Leona Lewis still has a 'good' relationship with Simon Cowell despite Syco split

Leona Lewis says she maintains a good relationship with Simon Cowell, despite parting ways with his record label seven years ago.

The singer left Cowell's record label Syco in 2014, eight years after winning the third series of The X Factor in 2006.

Read more: Where are The X Factor winners now?

But she told The Jonathan Ross Show this week — reported via Daily Star — that her departure from Syco was amicable and that she remains close with the man who helped to launch her pop career.

Lewis said: "We're still good, we keep in contact, he checks in on me, I check in on him."

Watch: Leona Lewis planning big family Christmas this year

Lewis sold 60 million records during her time with Syco and continued to speak fondly of her time working with Cowell on The X Factor.

"Throughout the show, he was definitely a real mentor and really involved in helping me with song choices, arrangements. He's been a big supporter," she said.

Read more: Will Young surprised X Factor hasn't got "comeuppance"

"The X Factor was such a huge platform… It was at the time when YouTube was starting to bubble up… the videos would go viral, it was crazy."

Despite her positive experiences, though, Lewis said she thought it was "the right time" for the show to come to an end — as it officially did earlier this year.

Numerous former X Factor contestants have spoken negatively about the show in the last few years, with twin singers Jedward the most vociferous in their condemnation of Cowell and the machine over which he presided.

"Simon Cowell thinks he’s the Mafia leader of the music industry when in reality he’s nothing but a bad facelift," the duo tweeted earlier this year.

Read more: Jedward say Piers Morgan has blocked them on Twitter

Rebecca Ferguson, meanwhile, has criticised the way she was treated in the music industry after competing in the 2010 series of The X Factor.

She has claimed she was forced to do interviews from her bed after suffering a collapse.

Watch: JLS want The X Factor to come back