CHARLOTTE CHURCH - CHURCH INHERITS FORTUNE THREE YEARS EARLY

Opera star CHARLOTTE CHURCH is looking forward to a massive spending spree - after discovering she will gain access to her $24 million (GBP16 million) fortune three years early.

The Welsh singer had been told by her mother and step-father that she would not receive the millions she had earned as a teenager until she was 21, but has now discovered the money will be hers when she turns 18 next February (21FEB03) - and Church intends to make the most of her cash.

She says, "There's no point leaving millions. I want to spend a lot of it while I'm alive. My parents brainwashed me, 'No, you can't do it when you're 18, it's 21! 21! 21!'"

However, Church believes she has a sensible attitude to money, as she continues to live of just $225 (GBP150) a week.

She says, "I like it like that it keeps me normal, grounded. I won't be extravagant. There's no money to grub off me. If I was going round with loads of money I wouldn't be able to live as I do now. People would scrounge off me, look at me in a different way. Life wouldn't be relaxed."