DANGER: SuBo outside house

Simon says: Move out SuBo

Simon Cowell warns Susan Boyle to quit home after intruder scare

FEARS: Cowell

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By Dan Wootton, 31/01/2010

WORRIED Simon Cowell has joined the family of his Britain's Got Talent star Susan Boyle and told her to QUIT her beloved council house for her own safety.

The singing sensation dubbed The Hairy Angel was terrified after being confronted by an intruder in her bedroom this week.

Now she is at the centre of a struggle over her security: Cowell and her family want her to move somewhere safer, while SuBo herself wants to stay put and has her management's blessing to do so.

Last night her worried brother Gerry Boyle, who has been comforting her since the scare, told the News of the World: "Susan wants to stay in her house.

"We all grew up there but she has to know she can't now.

Wrench

"She's telling everyone she will stay but she has to be made to move. She needs protection.

"She has to realise she is in the world of celebrity and she is too exposed in that house. It's going to be a wrench but she has to move or who knows what will happen.

"She needs some protection and we are very angry that this has been allowed to happen to her. She is distressed."

The 48-year-old spinster has lived in the £80,000 four-bed former council semi in Blackburn, West Lothian, with only her cat Pebbles for company since her mother's death two years ago.

Cowell signed SuBo to his record label Syco after she became a worldwide sensation from BGT.

A friend of hers said: "Simon's always offered her 24/7 security but her management haven't taken up the offer. Normally it's not the label's responsibility but because of how famous she got so quickly Simon is very caring about Susan."

A Syco spokesman said: "Susan's safety and welfare is of paramount importance to all of us."

But Susan's management, led by Andy Stephens, had no comment last night.

Brother Gerry raged: "The people we are angry with are her management. These people were very quick to work with Susan but they have not done enough to protect her.

"You wouldn't see Shirley Bassey living in a house that anyone could walk up to.

"Celebrities have gates, security men, ten foot high metal fences and that's what Susan has to realise. She can't stay there any more."

SuBo's intruder scare was the second time the man had tried to attack her. She has also been stalked by a woman and spooked by people peering in through her windows.

Speaking about this week's narrow escape, Gerry added: "The family are looking after her. It's a very unsettling feeling to have someone just walk into your house like that. It's shaken her up."

SuBo, runner-up to dance group Diversity on BGT, has always insisted she would not leave because of her cat.

In an interview with the News of the World in November, she said: "I don't want to be moving an inch away from my family and Pebbles doesn't want to move.

"She's lived there all her life and cats hate upping sticks."

Your comments

This article has 21 comments

She should stay where she as that's what she wants but employ security to look out for her.

By Martin.. Posted February 5 2010 at 12:24 AM.

Do NOT move Susan. Stay there where you're comfortable and happy. Having some security pesonnel around the house would be wise though.

By Heather.. Posted February 4 2010 at 2:34 PM.

If she leaves her house, she will be back in the Priory faster than you can say Pebbles! Simon Cowell and the others trying to get her to move are no better than meddling social workers keen to force their agenda on the vulnerable as it suits them. I believe Susan's house is central to her sense of place and identity and she will fall apart if moved.

By Colin.. Posted January 31 2010 at 2:19 PM.

Cowell told Kurt Nilsen (winner of world idle) he was ugly and would be better on the radio, and he was too ugly to get a recording contract. Well everyone knows Kurt is not as ugly as Susan Boyle, isn't it amazing how Cowell can change his mind when he is on the recieving end of £££££. I think it all boils down to the fact that Cowell can't sing himself and he can't read music, he can't write music and he can't play music and he tells a talented person he's too ugly, this is the sort of thing that leads too mobbing and Cowell has made millions out of this rubish.

By Robert Franklin.. Posted January 31 2010 at 1:44 PM.

Susan Boyle is a wealthy women ... after all she can
easily afford to buy a Brand New Home for cash.

By keti.. Posted January 31 2010 at 12:56 PM.

Susan's lack of security should be stepped up, but why should she move?

It's her home, & she needs to be happy, & she obviously loves it there.

Also remember, that although Susan is now "Famous" it was NEVER the "Fame" that she sought, she just wanted to be a "Professional Singer".

There are millions of professional singers all over the world, who live where they wish! (as Susan should be allowed to do.)

The problem is that Susan (who would probably prefer not to be "Famous" cannot undo what has happened to her, it is (I would imagine) a bit of a "Nightmare" dilemma for her, & I can only think of the last line of the song that made her "Famous" in the first place ........ "& life killed the dream I dream"...

I hope that Susan will be happy, & does what SHE wants & not what other people want her to do.

It is difficult though, & I can understand why Simon Cowell feels a "Sense of duty & care" towards her.

No one could have predicted any of this, it wasn't "Thought through" by anyone INCLUDING SUSAN!

I wish Susan all the Love & Happiness that she truly deserves........

Mike Danata

By Mike Danata.. Posted January 31 2010 at 9:44 AM.

@ Geoff

It isn't a council house anymore. As the article states it is a former council house. From what I remember Susan bought it.

Susan, you really do need protection. Pebbles will be fine, I have moved house before and my cat was fine. You just need to keep them in a few weeks to get used to it. I'm sure he would love a huge garden, don't you? :)

By Donna.. Posted January 31 2010 at 8:43 AM.

Does Susans house have security cameras and alarms?. How about a guard dog that could be allowed to roam the property in her absence?. she could pay a neighbor to feed & water the dog in her absence.

By JANET.. Posted January 31 2010 at 5:46 AM.

I am sorry that Susan is so under pressure to move out of her childhood home. I can think how she feels. Would she be permitted to rent it out and move somewhere safer for her and Pebbles? I hope she doesn't choose her old home over singing if it comes to that. I would have thought her management team would recognize the need for stepping up the security for her. I don't think Syco should hold the responsibility.

By Jordie.. Posted January 31 2010 at 4:53 AM.

I think she should stay in her home!! Her windows and doors can be wired and shatterproof glass installed.
Motion lights can be installed. Why doesn't someone sit down with security experts and find out what can be done for a worldwide star who wants to stay where she has always lived. If I can think of things to do for added security, the experts surely can. She can afford whatever is needed to make her home secure.

By Judith.. Posted January 31 2010 at 4:44 AM.

I think Susan should be allowed to live where she is the most comfortable. A live in companion could be the answer

By snowdrop.. Posted January 31 2010 at 3:31 AM.

I'm sure that Susan's house can be secured sufficiently so that she can remain there if she so chooses. She told the interviewer from the Netherlands recently that she was not staying there forever, but for now. The cat is not there but living in London so she's not staying because of the cat but because she feels grounded there. She's a grown woman who has lived by herself for a long time without it seems any help from her brothers and will continue to make her own decisions. I know Simon cares a great deal for Susan but he can't make her decisions for her about her personal life.

By D. Wheldrake.. Posted January 31 2010 at 2:42 AM.

Geoff, many people have bought their council homes, that's the law, so the same rules should apply to Susan.
For now she seems to need to have some normalcy in her life.
In time that'll probably change, but for now, she hould live where she wants to live.

As for the security, why on earth would Mr. Stephens turn it down?
He probably made no comment because the statement is too ridiculous to even bother acknowledging.

By KathyM.. Posted January 31 2010 at 2:10 AM.

It looks like Geoff likes to comment about an article he did not read.

By Arthur.. Posted January 31 2010 at 1:28 AM.

she should move out of there now, she can afford somewhere better

By david.. Posted January 31 2010 at 1:02 AM.

Yes it is hard for her but it needs to be done, she needs protection.
Once she has done it she might well enjoy the change of lifestyle and not so many memories.
Come on Susan start looking.

By patricia.. Posted January 31 2010 at 12:43 AM.

I have no doubt Susan will move soon. She indicated so in an interview recently for Dutch Television. When the interviewer said would she stay forever? She replied maybe not forever but just for now. Also, she also confirmed that "Pebbles" is now in London and happy. So this is no longer an issue. It is obvious she cannot stay where she is and it is evident she clearly realises this.

By R Stephenson.. Posted January 31 2010 at 12:35 AM.

She should not be forced to move. This house has memory and spirit of her beloved Mom. You take away that, she will feel distressed. She said in the Dutch interview that she might move in the future, but not right now. It is important for her to take "baby steps" and stayed grounded.

By Grace.. Posted January 31 2010 at 12:29 AM.

The people, quoted, who are blaming Susan's management for not hiring security services, ought to realize that her managers WORK FOR HER, not the other way around. She apparently didn't want to hire 24/7 security, possibly because it's hugely expensive. Now Simon Cowell, good man that he is, has stepped in to arrange it and is footing the bill.

Susan, obviously,was shaken up by the intrusion, as anybody would be, but with her usual courage, she quickly got over it and Saturday, flew to Copenhagen to sing for the Royal Family on behalf of Haitian Relief. She wowed the audience, got a standing ovation and left the stage with cries of Susan, Susan, ringing in her ears. Don't mess with Susan.

By trennie.. Posted January 30 2010 at 11:31 PM.

It is very hard to move from a home that you have
lived in all your life, but Susan's life has changed.
It is time for her to move on to a place that can
be protected from intruders.

By polly.. Posted January 30 2010 at 11:27 PM.

She should move ..after all she can afford to ..........The concept of council housing was to enable people who could not afford to but there own someware to live............I think she can now afford her own place and allow someone else the use of this house

By Geoff.. Posted January 30 2010 at 11:22 PM.

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