Cher Lloyd: Fragile but Strong young girl!

This little girl from Malvern, Worcestershire, UK was being bullied at school because of her Gypsy roots or for being a traveler. Her mother is of a Romany background and people see Gypsies having bad reputations in society, because all you hear about travelers is they steal, do scavenging, leave litters and start fights, stuff like that.

When she was four months old, she lived in a second hand caravan towed around with a battered Ford Transit Mark II pick-up together with her young parents for about a year before moving in with her grandparents. Their caravan had a toilet, shower and gas cooker and they set off parking on roadsides at Wales and other places. Her parents were always in constant fear of someone throwing a brick through their window or being stoned because locals didn't want them there. It was hard for them and they had very little money and travelers were not accepted. They would always kept extra money for fuel just in case police want them to move away, because if your were without cash and no fuel, police impounded the van. And when Christmas time came, there was just enough money for her parents to buy a rattle or a teddy bear for her.

After a year they moved in with her grandmother and lived in a council house. Council houses were built for people who don't have jobs and are low of income. When she was 2 yrs.old all she wanted to do was sing. She was given hand-me-down clothes by her Romany gypsy Aunt and as a result her fellow classmates branded her as 'GYPO' or 'PIKEY'. When she was 7 or 8 her parents gave her a karaoke machine as a Christmas present, she appreciates it a lot and never stops singing.

Her uncle Jessy would recall who is as well her neighbor: "I used to hear Cher singing in her bedroom, I could hear her kick the karaoke machine to get it going. She'd be singing from 5pm until it was time for bed at 11pm."

Growing up she never forget her gypsy roots and often visited her Aunt and cousins living in a caravan. At times she's had to put up with kids calling her 'gypo' and 'pikey'. School was tough for her because of all the bullies.

“School was disastrous, I hated it. I went from being bullied at a young age to going AWOL. I’d do stupid things. I was a brat. It was my cry for help because no one was listening." she said.

There were happy memories at school as well despite of all the bullying, it was everytime the school had a talent contest and she got a chance to take to the stage and sing. She liked it because she loved what she was doing, singing is the only thing she's good at, according to her.

Her talent shone through at an early age, and she was dubbed “Cher the singer” after her dazzling ­performances in school talent competitions. And joined local singing contest as well and won.

She even tried auditioning on X-Factor when she was 14 and did a country song but she did not make it through, judges told her she was young and it was not just for her. When she was at secondary school, other girls at college bullied and laughed at things like how she have done her hair and what she was wearing. She tried to look different to everyone else and always tried to stand out.

She wasn't that unpopular in general, only few people dislike her but did everything they could to make her life a misery.

“I take it in for a about a second and then I tell myself to laugh. If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry," she said.

One of her classmates said, "She wasn’t a coward, so when these girls started abusing her, she would more often than not get into a fight. But because she was always so small, she would usually lose."

Everytime she went home from school she would tell her mum that, this boy said this and this girl said that. Her mum would always remind her--- 'STICKS AND STONES MAY BREAK MY BONES BUT WORDS NEVER WILL'.

When she was on a bus one time, a baying mob surrounded her, making her a victim of a humiliating HAPPY-SLAP ATTACK and even video taped her, they were pushing her and called her names whatever they could think of. She just burst into tears. Boys set out to upset her as much as they could and succeeded. The happy slapping left her really shaken up. The next day she went to school everyone was passing the video of her around on their phones. She was devastated. That experience still hunts her. Then days later she was in the playground when another girl started calling her names. It soon turned into a full-scale fight and she got a really big beating. They were both suspended but it was final for her and she never came back and transferred another school nearby. She applied for a job and she got it but on the first day of her work she got fired. She did not tell why.

When she was 16, she auditioned back on X-Factor UK, she did not sing a country or sing big ballads and stuff but she did try a bit different and did sing TURN MY SWAG ON Keri Hilson version as her audition piece, it was a bit of a rap and pop and she nailed it. The judges loved her. If she did not get through or did not audition on X factor, she would have been married at that time, 16 years old. Gypsies marry at a very young age.

"I believe to make yourself original and to stand out from the rest of the bunch, you need to do somethin' different."

"I like to take a risk because I feel like that's the kind of person I am."

She just saw that song on the internet and thought that nobody would want that as an audition piece for a big singing contest like X-Factor. She always love taking risks and her risk paid off. She passed 3 auditions on the show before going through live shows. She almost did not make it through because of her tonsillitis, she did not even finish the song but her mentor believed on her talent and chose her for live shows. She did well in the competition and gathered a lot of supporters as well as loads of haters who bullied her online. It's because of what she's been through she would put a tough front but people misjudged her and find her cocky and arrogant on stage. People were judging her like they know her. Even the competition was going on, she got loads of vile tweets from people who even wanted her dead and even threaten one of her family members(her mum) and it was her mum's birthday. People would say to her she can't sing. She knew that she's just an average singer but ain't the best.

"I think sometimes make it confuse on what I'm all about because me on stage, I come across maybe sometimes a bit cocky or overconfident, that's just me as a performer. Off stage, I'm just a young girl trying to achieve a dream," she said.

She became famous that her facebook page exceeded to the number of friends she could have. She was excited at first when she saw how many people would want to make friends with her and just clicked CONFIRMED. It was like excitement for her because growing up was difficult for her and she wasn't able to make friends like that because she was very, very different. The next time, it was when the nasty names came out on her facebook page and twitter. She could get 10 vile tweets a day saying she's a 'DIRTY PIKEY'. She was done with school bullying but now she
experienced Cyberbullying. Now, she doesn't have a Facebook account just Instagram and Twitter for updates to her fans. She said, she would be a lot happier and protected if she were famous 10 years ago. When online social networks were not that fad.

During her X-factor days she was a beast, according to her, and everyone hated her because she was a brat. She just doesn't want to get bullied again and put up a tough front to defend herself. She was an absolute nightmare. But her performances were good, there's no other contestant like her even people would say she doesn't have a good voice or she's ugly, still she did her best.

"When I was on the X factor, because of my insecurities. I put on a front and i was this big, hard, cocky wannabe. But I'm nothing like that in real life."

"I struggle with my appreance, I'm really picky with clothes and sometimes that can put me in situations where people think that I'm being a brat. But really it's my self-confidence. I feel like I'm too skinny and it's really difficult," she said.

"I felt like i didn't fit in and i wasn't what everyone wanted. I wasn't the perfect popstar that people wanted me to be and it made me feel really, really lonely."

It was because as a a child she thought of being a popstar someday and everyone would love her, but that wasn't the case. Because of all the online bullying, she went through a certain time where she became completely cut-off from everything. She did not want to go out of the house, did not want to speak to anyone and did not want to do anything just in case something bad will happen to her. It was really a hard time for her. She always fear for her safety coz you never know what's going to happen.

A lot of people being bullied doesn't want to talk about their experiences to anyone but Cher had the chance to talk about it on a BBC Documentary about hunting bullies. For the first time she talked about what she's been through.

"There's been many times that i cried myself to sleep."

"I like to think that people think I'm strong because if they don't they might not think i can do it. I am in some ways, but some days i just wish that people would leave me alone for a little bit. I wish for there to be a hole to suck me in. I never thought that i could talk to anyone about it because i didn't feel i needed to. I thought i'd be strong enough to get through it on my own but i think that's the worst thing you could possibly do," she explained.

"It's a miracle I'm still alive. I've been driven to hell and back. The worst thing that i
suffered was when i received a death threat against my mum. It was her birthday and she was destroyed. She was a total wreck. I was so angry - say what you want about me but don't upset her."

One time while the show was going on, her parents did not tell her that her grandmother and uncle died on separate occasions. Her parents don't want to add up to her problems from all the bullying, bad publicity and how the media like to blow it up to make her bad in the public eye. Her parents just wanted for her to focus and do a good performance that night. People tend to forgot that she's a teenager, only 17 years old. Words hurt. She said, 'A FEW WORDS FOR A YOUNG GIRL, THAT ALL IT TAKES'. It was when old men were as well taunting her on twitter. She felt like she's been forced to grow up fast just take it all in and survive.

She finished fourth place in the competition along side One Direction(3rd), Rebecca Ferguson(2nd) and Matt Cardle(1st). When she was out of the show, she did not just waited for her luck to come around, so her did a move and approached big people like Will I Am, Simon Cowell for her to get a record deal.

"They gave me a platform. But always remember that when you're given a platform, you create the rest...they don't create you. You do it yourself," she said.

And she got it! Simon signed her for a 2 million pound record deal. It was a big hit for her. She did guesting's, radio tours etc. and bought herself a big tour bus and she don't have to worry anymore or her family won't worry anymore. She slowly provided for her family. Her album in UK is called 'STICKS AND STONES'. Her first single Swagger Jagger- meaning copycat or no originality, was dedicated to all her haters, to all the people who bullied her and it was very controversial.

She said: “All I’ve ever wanted to do is be on stage or cutting a record. But when I explain that, you ­immediately trigger the doubters."

“I don’t want revenge, I want my singing to speak for itself. Every time I do a song they will see my response. It’s all in the singing.”

Her songs were a hit on 2011 but made it much bigger when she did a guesting on X factor USA to promote her new single. L.A. Reid loved her and signed her a record deal as well. She released the same album still entitled 'STICKS AND STONES'. She is more successful across the pond (from UK to USA). She had a larger audience and Americans tend to love her more, than the people in UK, still she has a lot of supporters in UK. Taylor Swift loved her and invited her to do a duet with her on stage and sing her song 'WANT U BACK'. She even can't believe that she's made friends with Taylor Swift.

She is a very outspoken yound lady, now 20. She's not afraid to take risks and want to do what she think is right and not scared to make mistakes as well coz she can walk out from it and learn.

"If someone tells me I can't do anything, I'll still do it because I actually don't care."

Her haters were not so many right now. But she learned to have a very, very thick skin and if people say something ugly about her, she'll just take it on her chin and hold her head up high as well. eShe overcame her insecurities, like for example, she's flat chested, according to her she has absolute no boobies and no butt. And she's not afraid to say that she wore a padded bra so she will not look like a boy or even double up on pants, like wear another set of pants underneath her pants just to make it feel like she's got a butt. Not a lot of artist are so outspoken about their insecurities, instead they cover it up and go under the knife to fix it.

Even though she fixed her gappy front teeth, because she thinks she looked like a rabbit, she clarified that she's not gonna go under a knife or cosmetic surgery just to have boobies and a butt. She said, she's a happy girl now, she's happy of what God gave her. She'll just have to embrace her insecurities. That's what her new single was entitled 'I WISH'. She wanted to tell people on her song that it's fine to be who you are.

Even though she has a lot of money now, but she tend to just buy what she needs. Coz she's been through hard times like not having everything you wanted. She even collects stuff for a year and wrap it for Christmas presents for her three younger siblings. As what she said, 'as an older sister, they get to have cool presents during Christmas.'She can even stand of not having her own cellphone for a year because according to her, she's not prepared for the telephone company to steal all of her money. Because calling from US to UK cost a lot, roaming services. She will just use Skype and Face time to talk to her family back home and in US she will just borrow her husband's phone. She not a partier, hates clubs, not a caller, not a texter, more fond of one on one conversation. She's like a 30 year old woman trapped in a 20 year old's body. Now she got a new phone Iphone 5 and hate it coz she always press the wrong button, touch screens this days. She would prefer the 3310 Nokia because it's
easy to use and has a Snake game.

Now she's a lot more calmer and wasn't a brat and she learns to appreciate things more and feet still attach to the ground, everything is just part of her growing up. She's much more happy. When she met her husband at a salon one day who is a hairdresser. He had no idea that Cher was famous and they clicked. He also goes with her on her tour bus and sometimes did her hair. They were married last month November 18, 2013. It was a secret wedding. And her Dad almost did not make it because her dad is on wheelchair and almost died two weeks before her wedding. Only a machine keeps him alive. Her dad made to walk her on the aisle on her wedding day.

She said that she's not a celebrity, but a businesswoman and make a good life out of it.