Susan Boyle: Gervais wastes his talent

Susan Boyle says Ricky Gervais "wastes" his comedy talent by mocking others.

The British funny man has developed a reputation for targeting stars with cruel jibes. He famously insulted a host of famous faces while hosting the Golden Globes and branded Susan a "mong" - a highly offensive slang term for someone with Down's syndrome – last year.

The Scottish-born singer has now hit back at Ricky, insisting she has learned to ignore taunts.

"I can take whatever Ricky says, because I'll tell you something — he's the one with the problem, not me," she told British newspaper The Sun. "Ricky's a talented man but he's wasted himself with those comments. I think people who liked him are not so keen now.

"I've had a lot of insults. Do you know what I do? I ignore them. I just get on with my life. Those who have something to say usually have nothing to do."

Susan was deprived of oxygen at birth and was bullied during her schooldays and nicknamed 'Simple Susan'.

However, the 50-year-old singer has gone on to enjoy worldwide success after appearing on television show Britain's Got Talent.

She has sold more than 17 million copies of her three albums and will be the guest star for a new UK touring musical about her life, I Dreamed A Dream.

Susan admits she will struggle to hold back her emotions when she watches the theatre production on stage when it opens later this month. There is one particular scene which always reduces her to tears.

"Why do I cry at that? Because that's the reality," she said of the scene where her parents discover their baby has been deprived of oxygen. "That's when the doctor tells my parents, 'Don't expect too much.' He prejudged me. All the doctor told my mum was what I wouldn't be able to do, not what I could do. But my dad said, 'All that child needs is love — and we've got plenty of that.' It makes me cry just thinking about it, never mind seeing it on stage every night.

"I Dreamed A Dream is a very romanticised view. It's more like I dared to dream — that's what it feels like to me. Because everyone dreams of changing their circumstances, though not in the way I did. I couldn't have imagined taking off the way I did."