POP princess Leona Lewis has vowed she will always be involved with Hopefield Animal Sanctuary and says her goal is to see a Hopefield in every community.
The Bleeding Love singer, who found fame when she won The X Factor in 2006, was speaking exclusively to the Gazette during a five-mile fundraising walk in Weald Country Park in aid of the Sawyers Hall Lane safe haven.
Leona, who has been a trustee and patron of the charity for the past year, was joined by around 80 other ramblers for Sunday's dog-friendly circular walk around the 500-acre Essex County Council-owned beauty spot.
The 27-year-old, who is estimated to be worth around £12 million, said: "I know I will always be involved with Hopefield in some way.
"When I am a billionaire we will have little Hopefields everywhere.
"There should be a Hopefield in every community – that should be the ultimate goal."
Leona, who loves horses and has been riding since the age of five, was accompanied by her dad Joe and her dogs Forest, Lilly and Misty, all of whom are rescues.
The skies may have been leaden grey and the ground muddy underfoot but neither could stop the Hackney-born singer from enjoying the wide open spaces around her.
"It is so beautiful here," she said.
"It is nice to go out and be in the outdoors, I love it.
"I'd love to ride along here too, it really would be fun."
Leona said she cannot speak highly enough of the staff and volunteers who care for Hopefield's 300-plus residents, many of whom have been neglected or abused in the past.
"They are just a great charity with a great heart," she said.
"It is a lot of work for them and they don't have a lot of staff so they are doing an incredible job with the resources they have.
"They are just amazing."
She added: "I would like to be able to give more time to Hopefield. I give as much time as I can but there could always be more hours in the day."
The charity World Horse Welfare last week warned that the UK is on the verge of an equine crisis in which increasing numbers of horses will be abandoned or neglected.
Leona, a keen dressage rider who owns a six-year-old black Friesian gelding called Spirit, said it was "really sad" that more and more horses were being dumped.
But she's also clear that without places like Hopefield, the situation would be even worse.
"It would just be awful," said Leona, whose "obsession" with horses stems from a childhood love of My Little Pony.
"Where would they go?
"They would have to put them all down. It is happening a lot already so it is really important to have places like Hopefield."
In recent weeks, Leona has returned to The X Factor as a guest judge.
But is joining the judging panel full-time alongside Gary Barlow and Louis Walsh something she would entertain?
"Maybe in the future if I have time to properly focus on it, but not at the moment as I am just too busy," she said.
She also does not believe the show is past its best, despite it having struggled to keep hold of viewers in recent weeks.
"It is still one of the most watched shows on TV," she said.
"Naturally the figures are going to go down because people are watching less TV and using the internet more but I don't think it is because the show is worse."
Leona, the most successful winner of The X Factor since it began in 2004, has just released her third album, entitled Glassheart, and as she explained, she is very excited about its prospects.
"It has been six years since my first album so I am just really excited to have it out," she said.
"I feel very positive about the record and everything that is going on with it and it is definitely my best album so far."
She might have got her big break on a reality TV show but that doesn't mean that Leona is a fan of the genre.
Indeed, when it comes to The Only Way Is Essex, filmed extensively in Brentwood, she has a confession to make.
"Do you know what?" she said, "I have never watched it.
"I know who the people are in it because they are infamous but I have never watched an episode."
In the short-term, Leona is focused on promoting her new album, however, the committed vegetarian does admit to having thought about life after music.
She said: "My mum uses natural products to make her own shampoos, creams and lotions so I would love to go into business with her and do something like that."
