Altiyan Childs Broke And Dating Teenage Facebook Fan

12 April 2011

X Factor winner Altiyan Childs appears to have hit rock bottom, declaring that he is completely broke and planning to marry his girlfriend of two months, who he met through Facebook.

In an interview with Today Tonight, Altiyan revealed that despite releasing a hit song last year and touring all over Australia, he was earning less than he had as a forklift driver.

"I have no money, that's as simple as that. I think I'm probably about $400,000, $300,000 down," he said.

His manager Steve Gold, who was arrested recently after weapons and drugs were found in the house he shared with Altiyan, claims that he gave Altiyan's dad $50,000.

Altiyan broke down and said, "What an animal - I'm not even going to answer that."

Get all the details on the recent drug bust

The one bright spot in his life is his 19 year old girlfriend Nikki Kingston, who he met through Facebook and has been dating for two months. Despite the 16 year age difference, the pair are deeply in love.

"Age is just a number. I don't see why we can't be in love," Nikki said

And Altiyan's X Factor mentor Ronan Keating has admitted that although Altiyan deserved to win, he may have made a few mistakes along the way.

"He was a worthy winner ... he's probably played the wrong card at times [since]," Ronan told The Herald Sun.

"Altiyan's problem is he has a very big heart and lets people in. We all know what this industry is like and people like to jump on the train when celebrity is involved. It can be a train wreck sometimes."

WATCH - We make Altiyan Childs cry in our interview

And Ronan promised he would try and get Altiyan's album released.

"I was going to speak to Sony about getting a studio album off the ground but now ... he's gone to ground and I am in the dark as much as anyone else," Ronan said.