Will Susan Boyle really destroy Simon Cowell’s career?

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Susan: should make her own decisions

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Susan Boyle is heading towards meltdown. If she falls apart, the fallout could upend Simon Cowell’s "unstoppable" career.

So suggested a Huffington Post writer yesterday. Andy Pemberton argued that Cowell’s success is intimately tied with his discovery of Susan Boyle on “Britain’s Got Talent.”

“Susan Boyle is not in control of her vehicle,” Pemberton says. “And if – or rather when –  she crashes out for good, who are the public likely to hold responsible?”

Several things are wrong with this argument. First of all, how do we know Susan is out of control? She may be lonely, sure, and she finds fame hard. In an interview earlier this week her brother Gerry said she needs “24-hour care” – but her fans hope that she receives that care. "She needs to be looked after," Gerry told People magazine. "The travelling and the whole [fame] thing is exhausting. She still has her anxieties."

If Susan is floundering, there is help at hand, and we should be reassured rather than worried that her family are there for her. Indeed who wouldn’t struggle, after such a meteoric and sudden rise?

We’ve come a long way since the days of Marilyn Monroe, that beautiful woman destroyed by the pressures of work and fame, as well as by her own demons. Susan’s fans are more supportive than the movie-goers and industry of the fifties and sixties, and it is to be hoped that her employers and minders are too.

Pemberton ends his article by warning Simon Cowell to “Stop this madness” and prevent Susan’s life being ruined, and, more importantly, ensure she does not end up harming his own prospects.

It is patronising to assume that Cowell can order Susan about. Susan’s career has nothing to do with Cowell’s, nor should she retreat from the public eye because her behavior might damage him. She is an independent woman, with a special talent. If she no longer wants to sing, or decides to take a break, fair enough: but her choices should not arise from thinking of people like Cowell. They should be her own.

And if anyone's career is "unstoppable" it is Susan's.

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