Britain's Got Talent sensation Susan Boyle doesn't consider her new look too drastic of a change. "Depends what you mean by a makeover," the "I Dreamed a Dream" singer tells Oprah Winfrey in a show that airs today. "I mean, my best friend actually helps me with my makeup. You know, I mean, that's hardly a makeover."
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The 47-year-old debuted a $50 darker dye job last month "just to tidy myself up, like any other female would have done," she says. Boyle isn't sure she'll win Britain's Got Talent — despite having over 100 million YouTube views of her first performance. "Well, I hope I have the chance, but at the same time, there's a lot of other talent in the competition, so I'm willing to take my place with them," she says. "There's a lot of good talent on the show."
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Boyle tells Winfrey she began singing at school to help her handle a learning disability. "I was kind of a slow learner at school, so getting something like singing was a good way of hiding behind that and so boosting my confidence," she says. "I sang at karaokes, which most people do for fun. And I did sing at one or two occasions within the family." But when her mother — her No. 1 supporter — died in 2007, she stopping singing. "After that, there was a wee period where I didn't sing," she says. She tried out for Talent to come to terms with the loss. "You try and keep going through that pain, and that's what I tried to do with my singing. I am very slowly getting over it," she says. "One of the reasons I applied for the TV show was to try to see if I could perform in front of an audience."
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Now she has photographers camped outside her home and even gets fan mail for her cat, Pebbles. "It all takes a bit of time to take in. I mean, these things have happened so quickly. It's pretty awesome," she says. "I think change is always very hard to come by at first, but I'm really enjoying it and really enjoying every second of it," she continues. "It's like a dream come true." Simon Cowell says watching Boyle perform was "one of [his] favorite moments" on the show. But now she's under "tremendous pressure, tremendous scrutiny," Cowell goes on. When asked if he thinks she can win, he says, "I do. "You've got practically the whole world behind you now," Cowell told Boyle. "So I want to say congratulations and wish you the best of luck.
