‘The X Factor’s’ Stacy Francis Reveals Oprah Winfrey, Susan Boyle Were Inspirations

Stacy Francis has admitted three superstars helped inspire her to audition for “The X Factor” – Simon Cowell, Susan Boyle and Oprah Winfrey.

“I wrote down, ‘I wanna meet Simon Cowell,’ and I put his picture on my wall and I took the Oprah Winfrey approach,” Stacy, who wowed the judges and America with her “Natural Woman” rendition during her “X Factor” audition, told Access Hollywood on Thursday, of journaling her goals just weeks before she hit the stage in Los Angeles to try out for the show.

“Oprah talks about it — writing a dream book and writing a dream journal and having a dream board and I put it up and every day I would look at it and I believed it could happen. And literally, six weeks later I was standing in front of him,” she added.

Stacy, a 42-year-old single mother of two children — a son, 3, and a 9-month old daughter — said she spent years thinking she was too old to really make it and admitted she felt dejected after recording two albums with the girl group Ex-Girlfriend for Warner Bros. in the 1990s, to little fanfare.

While she performed over the years, she listened to friends and a former flame (who she clarified is not the father of her children) who told her she was too old to make it.

Stacy said it took time to get to a place where she found the push she needed to take the leap and try out for “The X Factor,” and recalling the journey of a famed Scottish woman helped.

“It had to also do with me deciding, you know what? I can do this. Susan Boyle — she stepped out, she was brave enough. She had to go through 20,000 people as well so I’m gonna try and Simon – love him – I heard him say in an interview with Piers Morgan, ‘Who said that 28 is the end? Who made that up?’” Stacy recounted to Access Hollywood of Simon’s motivating words. “I was sitting watching him before the auditions and said, ‘You know what? He’s right. Who made up that rule?’ And I believed it for 12 years!”

Stacy’s old band, Ex-Girlfriend, actually released a number of recordings with “X” style monikers.

A coincidence? Today, Stacy’s not sure.

”‘X Marks The Spot’… was my first record… It’s funny you pointed that out, maybe this means something,” she smiled.

“The X Factor” continues Thursday night at 8/7 C on FOX.