How has your life changed since winning X Factor?
It has changed quite a bit! I’m now able to travel the world and have lots of different cultural experiences. I also get to do shows and video shoots. Plus it’s changed in the fact that people recognise me now. I still find that a little bit strange and sometimes I forget that people know who I am and wonder why they’re looking at me. 

How do you cope dividing your time between LA and London?
I think there’s a misconception that I live in LA. I don’t. I go there for work. I did rent a house in LA for a while and I have a few friends in America but I live in London. I do spend a lot of time travelling though.

You worked with Justin Timberlake on your new album, Echo. What’s he like to work with? 
It was really cool to work with Justin as he’s very talented and a great producer. He’s really focused and he stayed at the studio until four in the morning working on a track on his birthday! The songs we worked on together have a real guitary feel. 

How did you get involved in recording the song I See You for Avatar? 
I was asked by the writers of the song and James Cameron (the director of the movie). I sat down with James, he showed me the film and made me feel really involved. I love Avatar. It’s stunning. 

Would you like to act one day?
I would. I went to performing arts school from a very young age and I studied drama and dance as well as music, so I’ve always had the ambition to do other things. In fact there’s a film out now called Wolfman starring Anthony Hopkins and I’d have liked to have done that film because I love him. It’d be great to star in a film with Anthony Hopkins – I’d steal Emily Blunt’s role!

How did you get involved with Simon Cowell’s Helping Haiti single?
I was asked to get involved and, literally, within a few days I’d recorded my part. I recorded my vocals in LA on my own – I think everyone pretty much did it on their own.  It’s for a great cause.

You’re going on your first ever UK tour in May. What can we expect from it?  
We’re creating a world that we want people to come and really get lost in. We want to create something that’s weird and wonderful and based around the film the Labyrinth and the Cirque Du Soleil shows. It’s gonna be something totally different. 

Do you still get nervous performing live? 
Yes, I get nervous before every performance I do, but I just get on with it. I have something that just comes over me whenever I get on stage. Something takes over and I just really focus on what I need to do.

We heard a rumour last year that you rescued a rabbit from a homeless man – is that true? 
Yes, I rescued Melrose my rabbit from a homeless man on Melrose Avenue in LA. I gave him some money and said I would take care of the rabbit because he couldn’t look after her. She’s lovely. She’s a white and eggshell dwarf bunny.

We also hear you’re planning on launching your own line of accessories…
I’m still in talks about it, but it is really exciting. Because I’m a vegetarian I want to do a range of accessories that don’t use leather or any animal products. I’ve talked to Sir Philip Green at Top Shop and Tommy Hilfiger about the range, but I’m still developing it at the moment. 

Finally, there’s talk of Simon Cowell looking for a new judge on X Factor. Would you like to be on the panel one day?
Definitely. I’ve had that X Factor experience and have a background in the show so I think I’d make a really, really good judge. I could tell people if they weren’t very good, but in a diplomatic way so that I didn’t hurt anyone’s feelings and I’d definitely give Simon a run for his money!

Leona’s new single I Got You is out on 21 February.