Susan Boyle feels 'like a princess' since fulfilling her singing dream

The Scottish music sensation - who suffered physical and emotional torment at the hands of childhood bullies ' has revealed she never felt able to stand up to her tormentors because she was too afraid but she finally feels loved now.

She said: "I feel like a princess and I feel loved for the first time in my life."

Of her schooldays, she said: 'Bullies were burning my clothes with a cigarette and stuff like that and trying to trip me up. It wasn't really human. I was being hit around the head, stuff like that.

'There was really repeated name calling. It made me feel as if nobody loved me. I really didn't matter. I was just a target. Once you give bullies that power, they've really got a hold on you.

' couldn't do the fisticuffs because, to be honest, I was an absolute coward.'

Despite calling herself a 'coward', Susan - who suffered from learning difficulties because she was starved of oxygen during her birth 'revealed she had some other methods of dealing with her persecutors.

She explained to talk show host Oprah Winfrey: ' was hyperactive at school. I used the chase after them!"

She added: 'What you do is you do well in something and you try and gain their respect in some way, and that's what I was trying to do with my singing.'

Although the 49-year-old singer ' who shot to fame on Simon Cowell's TV show 'Britain's Got Talent' - is in a happier place now, she claims that "some of the bullies are still around".

But Oprah suggested a new way to deal with her tormentors, saying: "Send them a signed autographed CD saying, 'How ya like me now?' "