Susan also lifts the lid on her countless A-List fans including Timothée Chalamet – and her take on Simon Cowell’s apology for being ‘awful’ in dismissing her chances based on looks
WALKING into a plush suite at the Langham hotel in London, Susan Boyle flashes an enormous diamond on her ring finger.
Could one of our best-known singers be secretly engaged, I wonder, as she sits down to chat about her comeback with a viral ad campaign for Cornetto ice creams.
But when I enquire about the rock she’s sporting, Susan bellows with a laugh: “What is it, grab a grandad? Come on! Who said I am getting engaged? It’s too late for that.
“I don’t have the time for a boyfriend. But watch this space.”
When she auditioned for Britain’s Got Talent in 2009 — which catapulted her to global stardom — Susan joked she had never been kissed.
And 17 years on, she is determined to stick to traditional values when it comes to dating — avoiding the apps.
“I’ll keep going, but I won’t use anything like Tinder,” she tells me.
“The only Tinder I know is a tinderbox. I don’t do that kind of cherry-picking online and I won’t do that.
“I’d much rather find someone in a natural way.”
Susan, affectionately known as SuBo, recently underwent a glow-up in a style reminiscent of fashion icon Anna Wintour. It came as she was unveiled as the new voice of Cornetto’s reimagined famous jingle.
Her unlikely dance track, Just One Cornetto (reMAXed), promotes their new Max cone.
Snaps of the star’s revamped image — kitted out in a fur coat, velour tracksuit and with a sharp blonde bob — appeared in The Sun.
With a guffaw, she shouts: “Thank God I wasn’t page three. With my physique though, why not? I’d have a blouse though, of course!”
Susan’s makeover has sparked attention from admirers.
She reveals: “I was out a couple of weeks ago and some builders started shouting at me. I ignored it at first. They shouted, ‘Oi missus’. I looked around and they shouted, ‘Hey missus, you with the big bum!’ — you get some cheeky men around.
“Wolf whistles, aye, I think the wolf was upstairs.”
Incredibly, Susan, who turned 65 in April, reveals she has never had an iota of help to keep her wrinkles at bay.
“What’s a tweakment?” she asks, as I enquire how she looks so youthful. I’ve had nothing done at all, hen. This is all real.
“My secret? It’s staying out of trouble.”
Her new campaign with Cornetto marks a sensational return to public life for the West Lothian-born star.
SuBo blew BGT judges away when she belted out I Dreamed A Dream, from the musical Les Miserables, during her legendary audition.
Despite losing out on first place to dance group Diversity, she became a huge hit and has sold more than 25million records worldwide. Her first album, also called I Dreamed A Dream, was a No1, becoming the UK’s best-selling debut of all time.
Susan now has countless A-List fans, with Liam Gallagher dedicating Stand By Me to her during Oasis’s comeback tour.
Timothee Chalamet declared her one of the “greatest Britons of all time” and US pop superstar Katy Perry said of Susan’s makeover: “I Dreamt This Dream.”
But in recent years, Susan had largely stayed out of the spotlight. She marked her comeback by wiping her Instagram and posting pictures of her new image. Sitting in front of me, though, Susan is no demanding diva.
Of Oscar-nominated Timothee, she tells me: “I felt so excited after hearing what he said about me. I would really like to meet him one day.”
Asked about Oasis’s tribute to her, she adds: “That was so kind of Liam. I had so much fun at that gig.
“I didn’t get to go backstage, though, I just went home.”
And what about Lewis Capaldi — a fellow Scot and arguably one of the most successful male artists to come out of the country in a long time?
Last year, SuBo shared a picture of herself with Lewis and singer Sam Fender. “Lewis is a pal,” says Susan with a smile.
“I think he is absolutely great. He has so much stuff to cope with and he is doing so well. He doesn’t need any advice from me. Lewis can do or play anything, he is so talented.
“We went to the same high school.
“What was I like at school? Well, put it this way, I used to get the belt every day. Who hasn’t? It’s not done me any harm in the long run.”
Simon Cowell recently confessed he regretted how he and his co-judges reacted to Susan when she first walked out on stage to audition, saying he had been “awful” in dismissing her chances based on appearance.
Susan brushes off his apology and says with a smile: “There’s nothing there for me to forgive. Simon is a good man.” The past few years haven’t been smooth sailing for SuBo, who was diagnosed with Asperger’s, a milder form of autism, in 2012.
Four years ago, she suffered a stroke which affected her ability to sing and speak.
But ever the fighter, she was back on stage the following year as a guest singer at the BGT final in 2023.
Returning to form has taken determination and strength. “It feels surreal to be here now,” Susan explains.
“I never thought I would be able to come this far. I’ve had a lot of encouragement and the public have been so loving to me.
“I have had a lot of speech therapy. It was difficult at first, but after the first few weeks, my voice slowly started to come back. I have been having a lot of vocal lessons, too, for my singing.
“It still needs some work, but I am sure my singing voice will come back.
“I am taking wee baby steps. If you go too fast, too soon, you go down a hole. It took a while for my confidence to come back with my music. But I am getting there. Slowly.”
Susan’s last studio album, A Wonderful World, came out ten years ago this November, then she quietly took a step back, enjoying a peaceful life at home in Scotland with her ragdoll cats Beau and Celine.
“They’re my bairns,” Susan says. “They’re my babies.”
However, when Cornetto knocked on her manager’s door and asked if she would re-record an updated version of their famous jingle, a take on the 1898 song O Sole Mio, Susan jumped at the chance.
“I was nervous going back into the recording studio, aye,” she says.
“I hadn’t sung for ages. But when I was there, I felt as though it was where I belonged. I missed it so much.
“The Cornetto song is just so famous and so special. If you don’t know the words, there is something wrong with you!”
Recalling having to step away from the microphone, Susan adds: “Music has always been the place I felt safe. It is something I love.
“Music is my life. When I couldn’t do it, I really missed it, so I can’t tell you how good it feels to return.
“I am still the same person I used to be, but an older version now.”
Laughing, she adds, “I’ve been singing at home. It keeps the cats at bay.
“I loved Shirley Bassey’s Performance Of My Life. My favourite is One Bad Apple by The Osmonds.”
Looking to the future, Susan is clearly inspired to forge ahead with a full-blown return to music.
So what has she got lined up, I enquire, tentatively asking about headlining Glastonbury — a go-to pipe dream of most UK artists.
“Ach, it’s too muddy,” Susan says with a laugh.
“One day I would love to go back on tour. It is something I am thinking about in the future. It really is baby steps. We’ll see where I play.
“I think I have got another album in me, for sure. It is something I do want to do, so I say, ‘Bring it on.’
“I haven’t had much time to start writing songs because I have been so busy. I am flying to Los Angeles soon for work.
“It might be a recording trip, but I like to keep my cards close to my chest. I can’t say any more.”
As she gives me that trademark cheeky smile and a gentle shake of my hand, I bid farewell to the pint-sized enigma.
There really is only one SuBo.
- l Just One Cornetto (reMAXed) is available from today on their TikTok channel, along with news of two new ice cream flavours, hazelnut & chocolate and pistachio.
