EXCLUSIVE: Australian Idol winner Natalie Gauci admits it was “really tough” auditioning for The Voice

For Natalie Gauci, stepping onto The Voice stage was a “terrifying’ prospect.

Not only was she starting from scratch in terms of her music career, just 12 weeks prior to her audition, Natalie had undergone an emergency Caesarean.

“My son Jedidiah was in the posterior position,” the singer, 38 tells TV WEEK.

“Everything had been fine during my pregnancy but when I was in labour he got into difficulty so I was rushed in for emergency surgery.”

Natalie, who’s raising little Jedi as she calls him, as a single Mum, says that because she hadn’t fully healed when she auditioned, she feared she wouldn’t be able to sing properly.

“I was actually really scared when I was trying for the big notes,” Natalie says.

“My stomach muscles hadn’t recovered.”

Natalie wasn’t just hampered physically during her audition.

“Emotionally it was really tough to go back to a reality show environment too,” she says.

“I’d left music behind because I was burned out. I almost didn’t go through with it.”

For six years after Idol, Natalie lived in London and continued to make music.

WATCH BELOW: Australian Idol‘s Lee Harding auditions for The Voice. Post continues after video…

“Idol was an amazing experience,” she says. “But I didn’t have a proper foundation in myself to deal with feeling unworthy or deserving of that fame.”

Natalie credits her spiritual healer with helping her put her life back together after Idol.

“I had to find my soul again,” she says.

She found that experience so empowering, she has since trained as a spiritual healer herself – and plans to work as a healer in conjunction with her reinvigorated singing career.

“I’m doing this so I can create a life for my son,” says Natalie.

“No matter what happens during my time on the show – I’m finding my voice again.”