2 JUNE 2003
Welsh singer Charlotte Church has stunned the music world by launching a broadside on her fellow pop starlets. The 17-year-old, who rose to fame as a child opera star, said that Britney Spears wore too much make-up and labelled Christina Aguilera a "slag".

"Christina has an amazing voice, brilliant talent, and what does she do?" asked Charlotte in an interview. "She cheapens herself to make everybody look at her and the first things that comes to mind is 'slag', which is awful. And Britney, she's gorgeous - but she wears far too much make-up."

Bronx-born beauty Jennifer Lopez also became a target for the teenager's criticism: "Although she's amazing and gorgeous, she works out three hours a day, doesn't smoke, doesn't drink and doesn't eat certain things. That sounds really boring to me – I want to live."

Charlotte, who lives with her DJ boyfriend Steven Johnson in Cardiff, said she has also made a few mistakes of her own, however, and regrets accepting the title "Rear Of The Year" in 2002. "It was a bit cheap," she admitted. "I thought it would be OK because I was 16, but it could still be disgusting, with lots of 50-year-old men looking at me."