Childhood fame brought me stalking hell

Six-year-old Britain's Got Talent star Connie Talbot left Amanda Holden in tears with her gap-toothed rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Back aged 23 with a new tour, she reveals how success was anything but sweet after she was bullied, harassed online and pursued relentlessly by an older man

- Nick McGrath

THE IMAGE of a six-year-old Connie Talbot minus her two front teeth bewitching Simon Cowell, Piers Morgan, and Amanda Holden with her spellbinding rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow on Britain's Got Talent is one of those TV moments forever etched on the viewing public's memory.

Now, 17 years after she was narrowly beaten to the inaugural BGT crown by opera singer Paul Potts, Talbot is back. Sporting a grown-up, glamorous look for her new tour, the 23-year-old sadly also has a bleaker perspective on the music industry after a tumultuous few years out of the spotlight.

Shockingly, she was bullied, prematurely sexualised and relentlessly stalked to the point where her own mother suggested that they flee Britain to escape the suffocating pressure.

There's definitely a darker side to being a child in the entertainment industry and being in that industry as a child has come with sacrifices,' says Connie, who hails from Streetly in the West Midlands.

"My parents, who grew up on a council estate, found it the most challenging because they're not showbusiness people and never in their wildest dreams did they expect all the attention and all the struggles that came after the show.

"My dad puts fences up and my mum answers phones in an office, and they were just trying to keep life as normal as possible for me, so it was incredibly difficult to deal with the intensity of coming off a show like that.

"And unfortunately for me, that included having a stalker, which I've had for most of my life."

Connie's pitch perfect voice has now matured into a richer, more velvety sound perfect for the series of intimate live dates in Birmingham, London and Manchester shel has planned for this September.

Even before she finished as runner-up in Britain's Got Talent, she faced a barrage of abuse from vicious keyboard warriors and callous classmates.