'I cried over all the nasty comments': How did an innocent wannabe like Rebecca Black become America's most reviled teenager?

YouTube sensation: Rebecca Black was launched into the spotlight this week after her heavily auto-tuned song Friday was viewed more than 15 million times online


13-year-old says 'It feels like I'm being cyberbullied'

She did not write the much-mocked lyrics


Rebecca Black became a YouTube hit for all the wrong reasons this week after her heavily auto-tuned song Friday was viewed more than 16million times online.

But the American teenager, who has been dubbed the worst singer in the world insists, she is talented - and says the fact that people remember her song means something.

Online critics have savaged the record, which is about a teenager getting ready for the weekend, but it is soaring on iTunes anyway.


Make me a star! The 13-year-old's mother paid $2,000 to get the song and video made


The 13-year-old's mother paid $2,000 to the LA based Ark Music Factory - production company for aspiring teen singers - to get the song and video made.

The video was shot in her father's home, and friends and family were the extras.

Presented with two songs to potentially record, she chose 'Friday' - but she did not write the mocked lyrics.

Some cyberbullies have even told the teen she deserves to die.

Rebecca gave an interview to Good Morning America and said: '[The worst thing I've read was] I hope you cut yourself and I hope you get an eating disorder so you'll look pretty, and I hope you go cut and die.


Never give up: The aspiring singer, who lives in Orange County, performed the National Anthem on GMA in an effort to prove she can sing


'When I first saw all these nasty comments I did cry.

Remarkably for a girl so young and so attacked, she also defended herself and plans to continue pursuing her musical dreams.

'I decided not to give the haters the satisfaction that they got me so bad I gave up,' Black said, explaining why she refused to take the video off of YouTube.

Thanks to iTunes, she's profiting from the experience.

The money will go to her savings, her school theater program and Japanese relief efforts. 'I just want to be able to keep doing what I love, which is singing.'

Rebecca, from Orange County, in California, also told GMA how her dream is to duet with Justin Bieber.

She said: 'I have Bieber fever. I am in love with Justin Bieber.

'Just thinking about it gives me butterflies.'

And she sent a message to the teen pop sensation asking if he wanted to do a duet.

Meet the tiny kings and queens of the rodeo clinging on to sheep for dear life as they battle it out for the Mutton Bustin' title

Whoa! Six-year-old Marcus Paul clings on to his sheep with steely determination as he competes in Mutton Bustin' at the Houston Rodeo


If putting your five-year-old on a 150lb sheep with only their determination to keep them on doesn't sound like the wisest of ideas, you shouldn't go to Texas.

Every night for the last three weeks, 15 tiny sheep riders have been competing in front of up to 72,000 people as part of the annual Mutton Bustin' contest at the Houston Rodeo.

Clad in full protective gear, the would-be cowboys and girls cling on for dear life, trying to stay on their new woolly friends for up to six seconds as they race through the arena.

The competition culminates in a grand championship final on Sunday night, when the 19 winners will take to the ring again to try to be crowned king - or queen - of the rodeo.

Mutton Bustin' is in its third year at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, where it has proved so successful organisers have had to open a separate outside ring to cater for demand.

Competitors have to be between five and six-years-old, and weigh less than 60lbs - but more than 30lbs.

Dressed in an ice hockey helmet and padded vest, they wrap themselves around the Ram Bouillet sheep and try to stay on for as long as they can.


Steely grip: Grayden Dewitt, six, shows the others how its done as he flies along on his sheep at the Houston Rodeo. Contestants have to be five or six and weight less than 60 pounds - to protect the animals


Taking a tumble: Five-year-old Chase Hetzler makes a stunning crash landing as he loses hold of the sheep during his six-second run at the Houston Rodeo


They compete in the main arena every night before the evening concert, and on Tuesday some competitors rode in full face make-up to pay tribute to Kiss, who was the star of the show.

Parker Johnson, of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, said organisers buy a new batch of 175 Ram Bouillets every year from San Angelo, then sell them back after the competition. They even keep the weight of the competitors below 60lbs to protect the animals.

Mr Johnson said: 'Parker Johnson: 'Mutton Bustin's been around for a while, its been going on at rodeos across the U.S. and we introduced it here about three years ago.

'What it is, we have five or six-year-olds riding sheep for six seconds of their lifetime, holding on tight, trying to make the best run they can, trying to give them the best experience we can.


Queen of the rodeo: Dirt-spattered Corinne Evans, five, sits proudly with two fellow competitors in her pink cowgirl boots after riding a sheep in the Mutton Bustin' event in Houston


No woolliness allowed: Would-be Mutton Bustin' contestants, including Nathan Kimmel, five, look on in horror - or triumph - as another rider falls off his sheep. They all have to wear protective helmets to compete


Rodeo-style rock chick: Five-year-old Shay Allen shows off her face paint - a tribute to Kiss, who were performing in the evening - before she takes to the arena for the Mutton Bustin' contest


'A lot of people bring their little cowgirls and cowboys out there, there's plenty of entertainment to have, but none of them have had the opportunity to ride a sheep before, and that's what we're trying to provide them with - a new creation of entertainment.'

Mutton Bustin' is growing more and more popular in the U.S., with its own annual world championship in California called Wool Warriors.

Girls compete against boys - and do just as well, according to a spokeswoman. They include Corinne Evans, who was photographed proudly displaying her pink cowgirl boots and a mud-splattered face.

'They've lost control': French claim Japan is hiding full scale of nuclear disaster as TWO more reactors heat up

- Workers battling nuclear meltdown briefly evacuated today after radiation levels increased

- French minister: 'Let's not beat about the bush, they've essentially lost control'

- Officials commandeer police water cannon to spray complex

- Attempts to dump water on reactors by helicopter fail

- Concern at radioactive steam leaking from reactor number three

- Two more previously stable reactors begin to heat up

'Out of control': This dramatic pictures shows radioactive steam pouring from the Fukushima reactor number three after it was damaged in an explosion


Destroyed: the four stricken reactors at Fukushima. Three were damaged in explosion while a fire broke out at the fourth


Japan's stricken nuclear power plant was abandoned for hours today, as soaring radiation forced emergency workers to flee for their lives and authorities were reduced to spraying reactors with police water cannons.

All 50 emergency workers who had been fighting to keep overheating reactors cool were this morning pulled back 500 yards from the complex as radiation levels became too dangerous.

And in an extraordinary attack, the French government accused the Japanese of losing control of the situation and hiding the full scale of the disaster.


Destroyed: Damage after the earthquake and tsunami at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, is seen in this satellite image taken 9:35 am local time (0035 GMT)


Desperate measures: A Japanese military helicopter scoops water from the Pacific, which it later attempted to drop on overheating reactors


Military helicopters made a failed attempt to drop water on the reactors from above, amid desperate efforts to cool nuclear fuel. The helicopter missions are said to have failed because radiation levels put the crews in danger. Police water cannons usually used in riot control were even requested to spray the site.

The emergency teams had been pumping sea water into reactors using fire engines, but those efforts are thought to have stopped as the workers were pulled out. But Japanese officials said 180 workers were now back on the site.



Stricken: the diagram shows all six stricken reactors. Reactors one to four have been over-heating since the tsumani. But reactors five and six, on a separate part of the site today began heating up as well


Nuclear experts said the solutions being proposed to quell radiation leaks at the complex were last-ditch efforts to stem what could well be remembered as one of the world's worst industrial disasters.

'This is a slow-moving nightmare,' said Dr Thomas Neff, a physicist and uranium-industry analyst at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The biggest concerns centre around the four over-heating reactors, and in particular radioactive steam pouring out of the plutonium-fuelled reactor number three which exploded on Monday.

From pigtails to Princess-in-waiting: Never before seen childhood pictures of Kate Middleton

We've grown accustomed to her face. But there is, it seems, still a lot to learn about the girl who is only eight weeks away from becoming a princess.

Yesterday Clarence House gave us a glimpse into Kate Middleton’s family photo album with five previously unseen portraits of Prince William’s fiancée posted on the official Royal Wedding website.

And although the smiling little girl in pigtails may already look vaguely familiar, there are a few surprises in the accompanying biography.


At three-and-a-half, Kate is already displaying the cheerful determination that will see her through life’s ups and downs.

In this case, it’s the hills of the Lake District before her and in pigtails and stripy jumper, she is enjoying every step of the challenge she faces. The picture was taken in the Lake District on holiday with her family in the summer of 1985.

As a teenager at Marlborough College she would go on to excel at sports, taking part in tennis, swimming, netball, hockey and athletics, as well as completing her Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award which involved a four-day hike. According to the official biography, hill walking is still one of her passions, along with tennis and sailing

Miss Middleton spent part of her early childhood living in Jordan – and as the Mail has learned, could actually sing Happy Birthday in Arabic before English.
The Middletons moved to Amman while father Michael was working as a flight despatcher for British Airways. Kate’s first steps in education were therefore not in England, but at the Al-Saheera nursery school from the age of three.


I’m a big girl now, five-year-old Kate seems to be saying in this picture, taken on a summer day by her family at an unknown location in the UK. The family had been back in Britain for a year and were living in a modest home in the village of Bradfield Southend in Berkshire. There, Kate went to the village school, Bradfield Church of England Primary, and enjoyed playing rounders on the school field and swimming in its outdoor pool. Kate’s little brother James had recently been born, and it was around this time that her mother, Carole, had the bright idea of turning a hobby of making party bags into a business. Party Pieces was established soon after
The photos, all showing her sunny disposition, are part of the Palace’s efforts to ensure the country gets to know the girl who will one day be Queen. Interestingly, they are all copyrighted to the Middleton Family.
From her prowess in sporting and outdoor pursuits (she completed the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award) to her gap-year break in Chile, her university days to her work in the family business, the details of her pre-Royal years are all there.
Now she is about to start the most important chapter of her life. Perhaps those at the Palace hope these snapshots will provide some reassurance that she has the strong foundation necessary to face what the years ahead will bring.


It looks like a family holiday snap. But the Middletons were at home with the blazing sun and desert air of Jordan for more than two years. Her hair blonde in the sunshine, this is Kate aged four with her father and two-year-old sister Pippa towards the end of their previously unknown two-and-a-half year stint living in Jordan. Michael had taken a job there with British Airways in May 1984 when Kate was two, and the family set up home in the capital, Amman, where she attended a local nursery school where she is said to have picked up rudimentary Arabic. This photo was taken on a trip to the ancient Greco-Roman ruins in Jerash, 30 miles away from the Jordanian capital and near the Syrian border


Warmth and informality stand out in this picture. With William’s hand over hers, Kate cuddles into her prince, who on that day is just another graduate basking in his achievement. During the ceremony, the university’s vice-chancellor Dr Brian Lang said presciently: ‘You will have made lifelong friends... you may have met your husband or wife.’ William also made a speech saying he had ‘thoroughly enjoyed’ life at St Andrews where he had been made to feel like a ‘normal student.’ During his years there, he was sheltered from public glare and allowed to experience the freedom of student life, cooking for himself, socialising with friends, and learning how to juggle responsibilities with fun. Kate was there to help him do that and their closeness is evident in this smiling portrait


Relaxed and happy, this is said to be Kate’s parents’ favourite picture from her graduation day. She graduated from St Andrews in June 2005 with a 2:1 in history of art, while William achieved the same grade in geography, having switched courses during his first year. He did not settle into university life as well as Kate, and she is said to have been pivotal in persuading him to stay on. Graduation day is also believed to be the first time Kate and her parents met the Queen, who attended along with Prince Charles and Camilla. Kate and William returned to St Andrews ten days ago for their second public engagement together. This time they were greeted with a crowd of 3,000 and military fly-past