Singing sensation Susan Boyle's school years were blighted by fainting fits after she was diagnosed with epilepsy.
The star has previously revealed she was teased and tormented by classmates while growing up in her native Scotland, admitting they targeted her because of her learning disabilities.
Boyle has now revealed her problems were heightened when doctors told her she was suffering with the neurological disorder, which is characterised by seizures.
She tells the Daily Mail's Weekend magazine, "I was protected in cotton wool. They (parents) thought they were doing the right thing. They called me touchy. At school I used to faint a lot. It's something I've never talked about. I had epilepsy.
"People in the public eye don't have things like that. All through my childhood they'd say epilepsy is to do with mental function. And now I realise it's not. I was up against all those barriers. It wasn't easy."