Susan Boyle (18 page)

Gerry also appreciated what Cowell was doing for his sister. ‘Simon called me to a meeting and was very determined to let me know, as her brother, that she will be managed delicately,’ he said. ‘I saw a different side to him. His TV persona is one thing. But he made it clear to me he has Susan’s best interests at heart. As a family we needed to hear that.’ He was certainly doing everything in his power to make her life as comfortable as it could be. But there was much more to come.
Harper’s Bazaar
was due out shortly - and there was a record launch to plan.

When the
Harper’s Bazaar
featuring Susan appeared, it caused a sensation. Susan was looking better and better by now: there were clear signs of weight loss now, and the way she had been styled made her appear positively soignée. She was dressed beautifully, too, in an array of designer outfits that it would have been inconceivable for her to have worn previously. In one shot she sports a sequinned Donna Karan top that, for the first time ever, showed a hint of cleavage. She was still demonstrably Susan, just a glossier version, and had managed the transformation without destroying the essence of what it was to be her.

Susan was clearly loving every minute of her new-found fame. The photo session had taken place at the country house hotel Clivedon in Buckinghamshire, which had been the setting for another un-Susan-like episode decades earlier: the parties at the centre of the Profumo scandal. The pictures of Susan in her new glamorous incarnation capture her sitting at a piano in a long, black, Tadashi Shoji taffeta gown, while others show her relaxing in brightly coloured dresses and coats, a world away from her former rather drab garb. Most notable, however, is how happy and relaxed Susan looks in the pictures. The days when she appeared to be struggling with how much her life had changed seemed well and truly in the past.

Susan had always considered it to be her destiny to be a singer, and now, at long last, she was being proved right. But having established her vocal talent, she had to look the part, and if that meant a wardrobe full of designer clothing, so be it. Susan might not be interested in her appearance, but she was well aware that others were, on top of which she had been rather dismayed by the early photographs that were taken of her. In the end she was only too happy to go along with the makeover, putting herself in the safe hands of this upmarket fashion magazine.

So spectacular was her transformation that the woman behind it - Laura Brown,
Harper’s
special projects manager - was interviewed about it on NBC’s
Today Show
. ‘The idea behind the shoot was a very, very simple one,’ she said. ‘It was to take gorgeous, glamorous and sensitive portraits of her. This was her first magazine photo shoot, so you can’t do too much too soon.’ But what they had done was spectacular. Now you could see the pretty young woman that Susan once had been.

Laura had been as swept away by Susan’s story as everyone else. Rarely can a duckling have turned so rapidly into a swan, and it all started that night, in front of a television audience of millions, a moment that was to change Susan’s life.

‘She came on to the stage and just transfixed us all,’ Laura continued. ‘She’s become a hero to a lot of people with dreams of stardom, or who maybe have a talent but have been too scared to express it. And I think everyone’s heart soared when they saw her sing that day. I think Susan is getting more and more used to being in the spotlight and being on television and being photographed. Since April, you’ve seen her look just day to day become more polished and refined. And she’s growing in her confidence with what she’ll wear and how she’ll be perceived.’

Something else that was changing was that Susan was beginning to have more fun - something that had been sorely missing from her life to date. Now finally she seemed to be enjoying herself, relaxing and going with the moment. ‘She actually did a little bit of moonwalking in her Giuseppe Zanotti heels at one point,’ said Laura. ‘What we did on our shoot was give her a little bit of a haircut, and that was it, and a little bit of a curl. And actually the shape of her hair is great. She’s got a really lovely curl to it. So we just tidied it up a little bit and paired it with some natural make-up, and she looked great.’ It was something of an understatement as the transformation was phenomenal.

Susan’s interview with
Harper’s
was pretty revealing, too. For a short time, Susan appeared to be thinking of leaving Scotland for good, given that she’d been living in London for some months now. ‘I’ll go back to visit, but you have to move on,’ she said. As for her newfound fame, she commented, ‘It will take a bit of adjusting to, because I’ve led a sheltered life. I’ve got life experience, but mentally I have to adjust. But it’s all good, it’s all good.’ And then, really unexpectedly, she revealed she was a fan of Madonna: ‘I like that she is a diverse pop star and controversial,’ she said.

Indeed, Susan’s tastes were turning out to be considerably more catholic with a small ‘c’ than anyone could have imagined. She’d already covered a Rolling Stones number and now she was praising Madonna. There was clearly more to Susan than met the eye. But it only served to illustrate what Susan had always been up against: being judged by her appearance and assumed to be a lesser person and a lesser talent than she was. Now that she’d been given her chance, she continued to amaze and surprise.

The
Harper’s Bazaar
pictures caused a sensation and proved that interest in Susan showed no sign of abating. Piers Morgan, who was in the States at that time, related that he had just met the actor Robin Williams, who only seemed to want to talk about Susan Boyle. There continued to be talk of a film based on Susan’s life, with Catherine Zeta-Jones’ name cropping up to play the lead role.

Meanwhile, Diversity, the band that had won
Britain’s Got Talent
, were forced to deny that there was any rift with Simon Cowell over Susan’s seemingly preferential treatment. There had been reports in the press that there were tensions, as Cowell appeared to be concentrating on Susan’s career rather than theirs. Certainly, there was no contest as to who had the higher profile. Diversity themselves were full of plans for the future, happily talking about being seen as role models for a younger generation, and wisely heaping praise on Susan. But despite their undoubted talent, they didn’t have Susan’s back story, and they hadn’t captured the public’s imagination in quite the same way.

There had been predictions in the early days that interest in Susan would be short lived, but in reality nothing could be further from the truth. The whole world seemed to want a piece of Susan. Lord Glasgow, the chief of the Clan Boyle, extended an invitation to Susan to attend the next clan gathering, while it emerged that the famous chemist Robert Boyle and the film director Danny Boyle - of
Slum-dog Millionaire
fame - were both distant relations. Hollywood continued to be utterly fascinated by her, as did the rest of the world.

Elaine Paige, with whom it seemed increasingly likely that Susan would perform a duet, had her say, too, claiming that Cowell had stopped her from warning Susan in advance what fame was really like. She had, of course, commented on Susan previously, before going on to meet her, but she now felt she should have been allowed to give Susan a little advice. ‘Nothing prepares you for the overwhelming fame and the media interest in your life,’ she said. ‘I wanted to warn her of what was to come, but he [Cowell] wouldn’t allow that. Instead, I surprised her when she was on the
Today Show
in America. She still seemed overwhelmed by things when we met, but hopefully we will get the chance to sing together.’

The fact that Susan had been so overwhelmed and had suffered from some well-documented difficulties relating to her overnight success had wider-reaching effects too, changing the modus operandi of reality TV. There had been real public anger about what some had seen as Susan’s exploitation, and the television community needed to address that fact if they wanted to regain the public’s trust and approval. It should be noted that Susan herself didn’t share these concerns or anger: she was well aware of the positive differences that
Britain’s Got Talent
had made to her life.

There was also going to be more attention paid from now on to the age of the contestants who appeared on these types of shows. Cowell had come under repeated criticism for making small children cry on stage, although in fairness a great deal of the responsibility should lie with their parents. If they were concerned and felt their children couldn’t take the criticism, they should never have allowed them on stage.

A new series of
The X Factor
was due to begin in August, and for the first time, in a bow to public concerns, it was to include some form of psychological appraisal for the contestants. They were also going to be offered more support if they found it difficult to cope with the pressure and the attention they received. No one wanted a repeat of Susan’s episode in The Priory, although it seemed a little unfair that Susan, who was now coping remarkably well, was always the first to be mentioned when the subject of reality TV stars going to pieces was raised.

Susan’s full-time assistant, Ciaran Doig, was certainly helping her to cope. The two of them paid a quiet visit to Blackburn, where Susan was pictured attending church, and stayed in her old family home - London might have had the bright lights, but home was, after all, home. There were other, more subtle changes in the way Susan was perceived in the community. Once back in her old neighbourhood she was asked for her autograph, another acknowledgement of her new status. There was no sign of the people who had made her life difficult in the past - no doubt they felt nothing but shame for the way they’d behaved - and if they had tried to do anything to upset this national treasure, they would most probably have been lynched.

Susan was such hot property by now that she regularly cropped up in debates about the television industry. The nature of reality TV was under constant scrutiny: there had been at least two reality TV-related suicides in recent years - one in the UK and one in the States - and there was a lot of concern about the ethics of the genre. In the UK, the tragedy had occurred in the wake of an episode of
Wife Swap
. One participating couple had been honest about the fact that they had an open marriage and had indulged in affairs with other people. In the wake of the show the husband, Simon Foster, lost his job, the marriage broke down and his life fell apart, and he subsequently committed suicide. In the States, meanwhile, a contestant on
American Idol
, Paula Goodspeed, committed suicide close to the home of one of the judges, Paula Abdul. Both cases were more extreme than Susan’s, but they did highlight many of the same issues and concerns, especially those relating to mental health.

The big question, though, was whether or not an appearance on a reality television show could lead to a new and lasting career? The answer appeared to be yes when you consider examples like Paul Potts and Will Young. But the annals of reality television are also littered with the corpses of those who made an initial breakthrough but failed to go any further, in many cases becoming extremely bitter about their experience. Was it possible that Susan could become one of those?

Louis Walsh, the man behind Westlife and Boyzone and one of Cowell’s fellow judges on
The X Factor
, had followed the debate with interest. Her case was so unusual, the pressures on her so unique and the issues surrounding her so delicate that it was unknown territory.

‘I think she could have a massive record, but I don’t know if she is able, due to all the pressure that she will be under,’ he said in a speech to the Edinburgh International Television Festival. ‘I’d get a very good tour manager on the road with Susan to make sure that he lets her work as little as possible. I’d get her to bed early at night and give her sleeping tablets. That’s the answer. There will be an awful lot of pressure on her, but once the record is out there and they make the right video for her she will be fine.’

Ant and Dec were also at the festival and were keen to defend the decision to allow Susan to take part in the show. Their views are worth listening to because both of them were child stars, meeting on the set of children’s programme
Byker Grove
, and both had had extensive experience of reality television in all its formats, as well as being the hosts of
I’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here!
and
Britain’s Got Talent
. Both had seen at first hand what reality television can do to a person and both, rightly, felt that it would have been grossly unfair to deny Susan, and others like her, a chance.

‘You can’t start censoring people because you don’t think they would be able to handle the fame and the attention as well as they should,’ said Ant, reminding the audience that he himself had been only eleven when he’d started his TV career. ‘You can’t turn round and say you don’t think she’s going to handle it that well so we won’t have her on the show.’ There was also the fact that, despite a wobbly start, Susan was definitely learning how to handle it. Given the right amount of help, she seemed perfectly able to cope.

‘People don’t turn up with it written on T-shirts how sane they are,’ added Dec. ‘You can’t tell by looking at somebody. Susan was a single woman who lives in a small town in Scotland and came along to fulfill a dream. How do you stand there and say, “You can’t go on, we’re not sure you’ll be able to handle it?” You can’t do that.’

It should be noted that while Susan may have had mild learning difficulties, there was never any suggestion that she was in any way mentally ill. Her brothers had been keen to make that clear, but despite their insistence, it’s a misconception that has lingered in the public consciousness. Finding it difficult to cope with overnight global fame, especially when you’ve led a sheltered life, is simply not the same as being mentally ill.