The diagnosis that changed Susan Boyle's life | A Current Affair

[Music] hello welcome to this special edition of a current affair coming to you tonight from london [Music] ten years ago the world was obsessed with susan boyle after she walked out onto the stage of britain's got talent and sang in that surprising voice that she had a dream but fame and success can be a double-edged sword and susan struggled afterwards with public meltdowns and family issues even while her albums were breaking sales records then she got a diagnosis that changed everything because you were also carrying the dreams of everyone who's ever been bullied ever been misunderstood ever been marginalized maybe i was really saying if i could do you can do it and it's amazing that the amount of people have taken that up physical disabilities and everything is that your message yeah to spread the kindness yeah don't say just a part of me just see the whole person not just about me just the whole person it's a pretty good whole person it was such an act of courage i think wasn't it i did mostly for my parents because my mother died two years before that and i said to her to try and do something with my life she used to uh say well you're doing yourself you've got a reasonable voice you should do something with it did you really think about not going ahead well now courtney pierce morgan i was all set to quit the show but he told me don't you have you have the press to prove a point to go back and do it again glad i didn't know i can imagine how hard was it though to you know just stay with it well when you've got uh a lot of pressure a lot of different things going at once it is difficult but you say to yourself this is what you wanted to do this is what you really put yourself in for susan was an immediate phenomenon to date she sold more than 25 million albums being number one in 40 countries and had two grammy nominations but 10 years ago the instant fame took its toll susan broke down after the final of britain's got talent the pressure was too much i was already you were i mean there had been times i guess back when we look back at the pressure that you came under you know you were a global sensation how did you process all of that pressure susan well to begin with i found it difficult we are not going to lie to you but uh i think uh you know it's defeated the unknown really you know that's really what it was at that particular time but uh as the years have gone by as i learned to learn to you know tune myself into things more there were people at the time who had concerns about your health and they thought it was too much for you do you remember feeling that kind of pressure and that sort of concern about whether it was too much well after the team i didn't have the tools to deal with it one person who knows exactly how challenging this time was for susan is her publicist and manager from the very start nicola phillips my initial role was to come in and do publicity and also look down on the very negative headlines that were happening at the time i mean there was there was this tall poppy thing i mean first of all she was wrapped up in a big embrace and then suddenly everyone was out to get her and how did she deal with that i mean not very well but i don't think anybody would when you know when you're being publicly assassinated and called names and no one's going to deal with that well especially when you have come from a very provincial town in scotland and you have spent your life really wrapped in cotton wool um so it was it was dealing with that shock so no i mean obviously it upset her for years i thought i had something a bit more serious you know so that was sort of took off my shoulders a bit you'd always thought that you were very slightly brain damaged weren't you serious brain damage as well because it was educative the assumption was that you were a little bit slow that you were a slow learner but really when you got your asperger's diagnosis you were also told that you have a very high iq higher than normal well that came as a bit of a surprise i think sudden fame is you know i mean it's a lot to deal with for someone who doesn't have aspergers but adds a whole other layer to it doesn't it well you and that ass aspergers you just have to make people aware that sometimes you have to go a certain place you know don't be too bombarded with things i mean at the very beginning was very bombarded yes and and you've been very open about your aspergers which is you know which is decent of you because a lot of people try to keep that stuff secret and you haven't done that there's nothing that keeps secret really there's nothing to be ashamed of no everybody has something i mean we flow of your leg but uh they shouldn't be ashamed of it it's something that you bring out in the open and the hope that you help other people you know but i'd like to feel the voice for people who have been underdog no you you you described it as king kong's mother when you feel like you're having a what you're talking about i'm more controlling it i can laugh at it now feels like it's in a bubble and you can't really talk very well because it's communicative as well if people give you a bit more time like you're doing thank you i can eventually get my words on and i'm okay i don't get a sense that you're struggling with your words at all right [Laughter] whatever though so what are the coping skills that you learned when you got that diagnosis well when you when you're like that you get hyperactive you know when you're shaking everything so learn to calm down using relaxation techniques snowball a lot of people they've remembered the public meltdowns and and the you know the serious issues that she's had over the years and a lot of people have formed a view that she really shouldn't be performing anymore because it's not good for her well i see i completely disagree right she has an amazing life susan will never care about you know money she'll never care about chart positions she cares about making people happy for us having to go through you know airports security and goodness knows what else but for somebody with asperger's that's heightened because you know suddenly you're experiencing a pat down or people are in your face it's you know it's a lot do you think that she's got a handle on the meltdowns now and that they just won't happen again are you confident about that i'm not saying that they won't ever happen again right i mean but i think in terms of where we were um and the frequency i mean they're they're few and far between now what are your dreams now on the bucket list a little bucket list okay i want us to ride a bike i've got my very first bike never had a bait when i was a kid a bicycle and i've got my professional license i've learned to drive sure really you're good so far well i've managed to just hit a street lane but that way okay that's a really good start and why wouldn't you have gone for your license you know years ago why has it taken until now for you to do that oh 58 my figures at 58. a little bird told me that you're also thinking about getting your pilot's licence oh yeah i did mention to somebody that was interested in flying are you serious about serious about it yeah so there you are is it just a shot behind the wheel or something mind you uh i definitely have nerves to steal me dipping i think city dive what else is on your bucket list i was gonna buy a horse a horse no yes i'm going to going mad to die why do you want a horse just a beautiful animals they are beautiful animals you're going to learn to ride as well let's keep you guessing there's nothing you don't want to do now is there it feels like you've been i don't know keep going i just want to keep entertaining people making albums touring in my next lifetime i'm going to have that voice we cry when we first see him you say you go don't they have to say it's a good bit to be because you keep yourself grounded you also make yourself appear more normally other people you know approachable if you like and is that important to you not to get ears and graces to put ears and glasses on when you need them [Music] we were given exclusive access to their rehearsal on the eve of the britain's got talent finale just kind of come together we're music legend michael ball look at me showbiz i plumb and love it and susan we're preparing for their live performance it's the biggest show on british television yes it's uh it's a special one as well it's 10 year anniversary and and i'm singing with one of the most fabulous singers was today your first rehearsal your first rehearsal is literally the day before the performance [Laughter] are you feeling confident i really am and i think there's a different performance energy that you get i mean you're in a sort of subterranean right here when you walk out and it's it's going to be wonderful it'll be wonderful it just it's yeah yeah but we've got to nail it yeah yeah you got to nail it okay i'm getting out of your way i mean there's no other staff from reality tv who has you know been going 10 years and it's it's hard in the entertainment industry to go missing for a while which she's done and then come back yeah but we managed to do it she's the queen of the compact including the uk and scotland lots of space for further information might you come to australia i would love to come to australia i'd love to revisit them australians would love to have you back susan and i if you come back i'll introduce you to my two horses well they're good okay we can go for a ride susan is not your run-of-the-mill recording star and she's not your run-of-the-mill interview either she's extremely shy and her asperger's plays into how she interacts and how she communicates which really when you think about it makes her achievements even more remarkable she has more money now than she will ever spend so the fact that she's keen to step back into the spotlight is testament to her grit and maybe a little bit of scottish stubbornness as well her new album ten is available now you

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Id: mFceNpw3APk

Length: 11min 18sec (678 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 06 2019