Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle was rushed to a London clinic suffering from exhaustion and possible mental health problems after coming a shocking second on a talent show, reports said Monday.
Boyle, whose soaring singing voice made her an unlikely global star, was taken by ambulance to the Priory Clinic in north London Sunday accompanied by paramedics and police after acting strangely at her hotel, The Sun newspaper reported.
The news came hours following her surprise defeat late Saturday in the Britain s Got Talent television show, when she was voted into second place in a public vote behind urban dance troupe Diversity.
In a sign of how big the story has become, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he had spoken to the show s judges about Boyle on Sunday because he wanted to be sure that she was OK, he told ITV television Monday.
Britain s Got Talent judge Piers Morgan said Boyle was essentially fine.
She was very tired and hasn t been sleeping, Morgan told ITV television. She has just gone away to have some time to herself and to sleep and eat, doing all the things she hasn t been able to do in the last week.
The Priory, which says on its website it specializes in the treatment of mental health problems, said it did not comment on individual cases.
It is part of an exclusive chain of private clinics known for treating troubled performers including Amy Winehouse and Pete Doherty.
Asked about the reports, a Scotland Yard spokesman said police were called to a hotel at 6:00pm (1700 GMT) Sunday to doctors assessing a woman under the Mental Health Act . They did not confirm her identity in line with policy.
Police and ambulance attended, the spokesman said. The woman was taken voluntarily by ambulance to a clinic. At the request of doctors, police accompanied the ambulance.
Boyle, a 48-year-old spinster from a small town in Scotland who was starved of oxygen at birth and has mild learning difficulties, had a meteoric rise to fame in the last two months.
The frumpy church volunteer became a star around the world, particularly in the US, after footage of her singing I Dreamed a Dream from the musical Les Miserables in the Britain s Got Talent auditions became a YouTube hit, with at least 100 million viewings.
Bookmakers had made her hot favorite to win the final although in the days leading up to it, there were signs she was struggling to cope with the pressure.
Last week, she was spoken to by police after an angry outburst at her hotel, while Morgan described her as being like a frightened rabbit in headlights and said she had considered quitting the show.
Even though she lost, she was still reportedly poised to earn up to eight million pounds (13 million dollars) in the next year from a record deal, a book about her life and even a film.
She had been set to start rehearsing an album of showtunes this week and fly to Prague next month for recording sessions with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, media said.
A total of 19.2 million people watched the Britain s Got Talent final on live television Saturday, making it the country s most popular television program for five years.
Boyle s friend and former voice coach Fred O Neil said she may have been completely overwhelmed by the attention focused on her.
It s such a tragic situation, a woman who really just loves to sing, an innocent woman really, who is just caught up in this fame game, he told the BBC.
I just hope that whatever fame that she has got out of this will eventually bring her some happiness. Obviously at the present time it is not.
