SuBo: I’m finally happy with fame ... but I still like to take the bus!
SHE was thrust into the spotlight following her astonishing audition on Britain’s Got Talent.
Now, a decade on, Susan Boyle says she has finally learned to cope with her worldwide fame.
The 57-year-old, of Blackburn, West Lothian, struggled initially with life in the public eye and grappled with personal issues, including being diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome.
But Miss Boyle claims she has now made peace with her celebrity and copes with the pressures by keeping a firm grip on her modest roots.
Miss Boyle – currently competing on America’s Got Talent: The Champions – said: ‘I’m managing things a lot better. It was a slow process.
‘But I’m coping inside a lot better now and I’m ready, more than ready, for what’s coming.’
Miss Boyle still lives in the former council house in which she grew up.
‘Money doesn’t bother me’
The multi-millionaire had moved to a £300,000 ‘plush’ villa nearby but soon returned to the comfort of the community she knew and loved.
She told the Sun: ‘I want to entertain people, I want to make them happy. Money doesn’t bother me.
‘I’ve got a nicer house and stuff like that but those are material things. I think emotionally I’ve grown up.
‘I’m still in my parents’ house, my niece has got the plush house. It’s good to be in your mum’s house as well, there’s a lot of nice memories. I feel she’s present here, somehow.
‘I still catch a bus, I still talk to my neighbours and friends. Why not?
‘My community hasn’t changed much but I have this sort of dual personality now. I’m a performer and an ordinary person, which is nice.’
Miss Boyle, known to fans as SuBo, also opened up about her Asperger’s, diagnosed in 2013. She said: ‘It can be difficult to talk about mental health issues as there is a kind of fear about that. Years ago there used to be a stigma but now there is more knowledge, more expertise, and talking about things makes it easier.’
She added: ‘I can cope with the pressure now. I know how to control myself better. I don’t get so worked up about things. I got a lot of help and I’m managing more effectively.’
She said her late parents would have been ‘proud’ of her success.
The star had been a carer for her mother, Bridget, who died in 2007 aged 91, while she lost her father Patrick in 1997, when he was 81.
Miss Boyle said: ‘My parents said, “Wait until the time comes and you’ll know if you’re ready, if you can cope”.’
Her new album, Ten, is due out on May 31.