'That connection is gone.' 20 years after Australian Idol, Cosima De Vito is ready to talk.

Almost 20 years ago, in November 2003, Cosima De Vito stood on the Australian Idol stage alongside fellow finalists Guy Sebastian and Shannon Noll and dropped a shock announcement: she would be leaving the popular singing reality TV show.

"I'd like to thank all my supporters and the Australian public for believing in me. I've been extremely humbled by the support you have shown me. Unfortunately, I have a temporary condition that's affecting my voice. It's forced me to make the decision to leave the competition," De Vito said on live television, her voice audibly shaking.

A loud cry of "No" rang out from the audience in attendance as people screamed in shock and dismay. 

"But the next few weeks are going to be very, very intense with touring and recording and I'm not sure that I am going to be able to give 100 per cent and that my voice is going to hold up. These two great guys are ready to take on the final challenge," De Vito continued, gesturing to Sebastian and Noll.

"From the bottom of my heart, I wish you both the best of luck and I cherish your friendship, your love and your support. With the right care, I know my voice will get better and I'll be back to normal in just a few weeks. So the journey isn't going to end for me."

And while it certainly wasn't the end for the talented singer, it was an ending - of the Australian Idol dream, at least. Looking back on that time is bittersweet for the now 46-year-old. Time has healed the wounds somewhat, but the scars are still there. In fact, De Vito turned down an offer to be a mentor on the new Australian Idol reboot, which is currently playing out on our screens, because she just wasn't ready yet to take that long walk down memory lane.

"They asked me to be a mentor and then they also asked me to do performances with the other Idols and stuff. I don't know. I just wasn't feeling it. I know it's been 20 years, and I loved my experience on Idol, absolutely loved it. It was one of the greatest times of my life, but it was also one of the hardest," De Vito tells Mamamia. That incredible voice is the same from 20 years ago; husky, deep and uniquely hers.

"When I left the show [due to being diagnosed with nodules on her vocal cords]... I know I would have had to rehash it again on the stage on which it happened; OK, it won't be exactly the same stage, but it's the same setting. And I just wasn't ready to do that. Because I'm in a really good place. And I'm just... I'm not ready yet to have to go back and rehash the bad parts of it. I was just happy just to sit back and watch it and just see how it goes."

Watch the trailer for the new Australian Idol 2023. Story continues below.

And for the record, she has been watching the new season - albeit on and off. Her verdict? Well, it's a mixed bag.

"I'm finding it a bit weird because it's not the same. The rules are all different - it's almost like it's not the same show," she says. Unlike her season of Australian Idol, the new show is much more compressed.

"We had a top 100, we came to Sydney, we were culled down to 40. And then the people were judging from Top 40... and then we had the 'Wildcard', see I came back for 'Wildcard'. The people had longer to connect with their favourite artist. We're not getting that here. That connection is gone. Because they're not voting from the beginning. And it's funny because I even meet people today and they still, almost like it was yesterday, say the connection... they were part of it. They were part of the fact of how far I got. And that's what made the show special. This Idol doesn't have that, unfortunately."

De Vito isn't a fan of the new "touchdown buzzer" either. Original judge Mark Holden created the "touchdown", which he would award after a particularly stellar performance. De Vito should know - after all, she was the recipient of the first-ever touchdown on Australian Idol after her powerhouse rendition of Cold Chisel's 'When The War Is Over'.

While she is not connecting with the rebooted series the way she thought she would, the singer is still open to one day making an appearance on the Idol stage. "I'm not saying no to any future [appearances]. It's just that this time, because it was the first one, I just wanted to sit back and see how it is and just get my feelers. Because it was never going to be the same."

After leaving Australian Idol, De Vito produced a number one hit with her Cold Chisel cover, before recording and producing her chart-topping album with renowned songwriter Diane Warren. She has since produced two more albums, starred in the musical Hair, and sung at too-many-to-count award and sporting shows and galas, both on screen and off. 

However, for the past five years music has taken a backseat to something else: motherhood. De Vito and husband Augusto De Romanis are parents to their five-year-old daughter, Amelia. Who De Vito says is much more of an extrovert than she is, and who might one day have aspirations to become a singer just like her famous mum.

"She sings all the time. And she's very, very loud," De Vito tells Mamamia with a laugh. "Like every five-year-old, she says she wants to be a ballerina... She can be whatever she wants to be."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Cosima De Vito (@cosimadevito)

The love story between De Vito and husband De Romanis is a special one. After being single for around 10 years, a then 38-year-old De Vito had just started the process of doing IVF on her own when she and De Romanis met.

"It comes when you least expect and when you're open... I was wanting to be a mum. And I'm like, 'Well, if I look back on my life, my biggest regret won't be that I didn't get married, it will be because I didn't become a mum.' So I had already resigned to the fact that I wasn't going to meet anyone and then he popped around," she explains. "When you're happy with your life and you're content, they have to fit in with you, not the other way around."

Recently, as Amelia has gotten older, and the pandemic shut downs have lifted, De Vito has started releasing music again. While known as a solo performer, she is embracing duets, and has just released 'I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You' with Greg Gould, as well as 'Next To Me' with Independent Arias chart-topper JD. The singer has also spent a lot of time reconnecting with her Italian roots, and singing songs in Italian.

Due to time, distance, COVID, and just life circumstances, De Vito doesn't keep in close contact with her fellow Australian Idol alumni, but there is certainly no bad blood.

"I wish them all luck. Like I've always said, when it comes to music, there's enough room for everyone. I don't really talk [to anyone] - maybe because I'm a mum now and I have no time - but it's very hard for me to keep in touch with everyone," she says.

"But you know, we had the Idol reunion about two years ago. I think it was part of Nova and we had a live performance. And I got to catch up with Shannon Noll and Millsy, which was really, really nice. So when we see each other, it's all good. But just everyone's got families and everyone's potentially in different states and it's just really hard.

"And not only that... you know, you make friends with some more than you make friends with others, in terms of deep friendships in that time. I had made a deep friendship with Levi, but unfortunately he passed away. But if I see any of them, we will always have that memory. We'll always have that connection. Regardless, so it doesn't matter. If I see them again in 20, 30, 40 years, we'll always have that. And that's the beauty of that experience."

Feature image: Network 10/Australian Idol.

Do you have kids under 9? Take this short survey now to go in the running to win a $50 gift voucher!