Pop icon Sinitta has revealed that she has been battling coronavirus and believes she caught the disease while performing at a gay club.

The 56-year-old - real name Sinitta Malone - was bedridden for a week after contracting COVID-19 but is now past the worst of her symptoms.

The 'So Macho' singer also claimed that old friend Simon Cowell knew she had picked up the deadly disease due to their "psychic" connection.

"I caught the virus after doing a club gig," she told The Mirror. "Next day I felt as if I'd swallowed a packet of razor blades. I was in bed for about a week.

"I didn't tell Simon I was ill but it wasn't long before he got in touch. We speak quite frequently. I didn't call as I didn't want him worried – I thought, 'Well, there's nothing he can do'.

"When he got through, Simon said, 'You've got it haven't you?' And I said, 'How do you know?' He told me, 'We have this weird connection, I can just tell when something's wrong.'"

Recalling her night at Vauxhall gay club The Eagle, Sinitta added: "It was a good night but we were all hugging and kissing, all of us sweaty in a closed space. There was no social distancing at that point.

"Next morning I couldn't breathe, I felt like I had a 20-stone man on my chest."

The coronavirus pandemic has so far claimed more than 110,000 lives worldwide, including over 10,000 in the UK.