Within minutes of us meeting, Susan Boyle begins badgering me about Britain’s Got Talent judge Piers Morgan. Only she doesn’t call him Piers, she calls him Piersy Baby. Is he a friend? Do I know him?
When I tell her I do, she launches into the Susan Boyle Wiggle and, with a twinkle in her eye, throws herself on the sofa. ‘Ask me whatever you want,’ she says. Okay, do you really have a crush on Piers?
‘You’ve got to admit he is dead handsome,’ she says, going all starry-eyed. Umm, well… Susan, remember, is 48 and single; the never-been-kissed church volunteer who lived alone with her cat in Blackburn, West Lothian, before her jaw-dropping rendition of I Dreamed A Dream on Britain’s Got Talent.
Global sensation: Britain’s GotTalent finalist Susan Boyle says her life ‘ceased to be normal’ when she appeared on the programme and she struggled to cope
Within a few short days, she became a global internet sensation, but then the pressure seemed to prove too much for her. Susan checked herself into the Priory clinic in north London, sparking a media furore about reality TV ‘exploitation’ and claims of a life wrecked by transient fame.
Susan, you see, had a difficult birth that resulted in a lack of oxygen to the brain and mild learning difficulties. So has she been exploited? Well, the Susan I meet today certainly doesn’t seem particularly wrecked, nor her fame fleeting.
Her debut album I Dreamed A Dream, topped Amazon’s bestseller list, where it could be pre-ordered, three months before its release date on 23 November.
She looks startlingly different, having lost a few stone and started waxing. She was , remember, cruelly dubbed The Hairy Angel. ‘I was fed up with being called that,’ she says. ‘I didn’t know what I looked like on television until I saw myself on Britain’s Got Talent.
I saw this wee wifey with the mad hairdo and the bushy eyebrows and said, “Hmmm, not really telegenic.” So, I decided to spruce myself up a bit. When I look in the mirror now, I see this sophisticated lady.
‘I’m still a bit like that wee wifey inside, but more refined in some ways. I think any woman would have done the same. Would you want to look like the Hairy Angel? I don’t think so.’
And this is the thing about Susan: she is an astonishingly forthright woman; the sort who cuts to the chase with candour. This is the first in-depth interview Susan has given, and she is determined to be absolutely honest. ‘This is the last time I will mention the Priory,’ she says.
‘Everything had built up and I was exhausted. You have to understand, my life ceased to be normal when Britain’s Got Talent went live. There were a lot of press people outside my door, a lot of television people, a lot of people who wanted a piece of me. I thought, “God, what’s happening here. I’m a reasonable singer, but I never expected that.”‘
Indeed, the interest in Susan was phenomenal. ‘It got to the stage where I couldn’t even go outside because the media – American television crews too – surrounded the house.
