What Celebs Really Think About Susan Boyle

In 2009, Susan Boyle stepped out on stage to audition for "Britain's Got Talent." The 47-year-old vocalist didn't necessarily look like a pop star, and when she gave the reality show judges a cheeky hip-swivel, Simon Cowell looked like he wasn't too eager to hear Boyle sing. Then she opened her mouth and delivered a rendition of the "Les Misérables" song "I Dreamed A Dream" that changed television history. Despite her unassuming appearance, everyone learned that Boyle has a voice for the ages, and she sailed through to the next round of the competition. Backstage, when "Britain's Got Talent" hosts Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly asked how she was feeling, Boyle gushed, "Bloody fantastic!"

From there, her career was off like a rocket ship. Boyle didn't win the show, but when she released her debut album later that year — named, of course, after her signature song — she broke records. "I Dreamed a Dream" became the fastest-selling debut album ever in the United Kingdom, and Boyle would go on to have a long and fruitful career in British music.

Boyle's rise to fame surprised the entertainment industry around the world. It came at the close of a decade where fame itself had been redefined by reality television, influencing everything from the way people obsessively tracked the stars' lives to the rise of social media and smartphones. Some celebrities spoke out against Boyle's method of making a name for herself, while others have shown her nothing but support over the years. 

During Susan Boyle's audition, the "Britain's Got Talent" cameras captured longtime reality show judge Simon Cowell rolling his eyes at the eccentric woman's on-stage attempts at humor. After she sang "I Dreamed a Dream," however, Cowell realized that he'd been mistaken to write Boyle off. Fellow judges Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan gave Boyle glowing reviews, and then Cowell joked, "Susan, I knew the minute you walked out on that stage that we were going to hear something extraordinary. And I was right."

Though Boyle didn't win the show Cowell led, he signed her to a record deal anyway, and Cowell has been in her corner ever since. Speaking with Extra in 2026, Cowell recalled the day he first met Boyle, confessing that at first, he assumed she was auditioning for the show as a stand-up comedian. He went on to credit Boyle with the worldwide success of the "Got Talent" format, gushing, "I absolutely adore her. She did more for our show than probably any other contestant."

In 2019, the "Wild Horses" singer spoke with People about how much help her record label boss has given her over the years. "Simon is the biggest inspiration in my career," she said. "I strive to make him proud. He inspires me to continue and strive for perfection."

Several years after Susan Boyle brought "I Dreamed a Dream" back to the forefront of popular culture — long after "Les Misérables" first opened all the way back in 1985 — Tom Hooper's adaptation of the celebrated stage show hit the silver screen. While filming 2012's "Les Mis," Anne Hathaway underwent one of her most drastic hair transformations yet in order to play Fantine, the tragic character who sings "I Dreamed a Dream." Hathaway really shaved her head on camera, telling Parade (via Digital Spy) that she was distraught after seeing how the shorter hair had changed her look. "I look like my gay brother," she joked. "I'm just Man Hathaway."

Though the filming of the actual scene seemed traumatic for the "Ella Enchanted" star, Hathaway credited Susan Boyle with part of her preparation to perform the number ... because she knew she wouldn't be able to perform it the way Boyle had. "I can't sing like Susan Boyle," Hathaway confessed to The Village Voice in 2012. "The bar has been set so high by so many incredible vocalists, there's no way I could match it."

As you might imagine, Hathaway was asked about Boyle several times while promoting the film, which led her all the way to the Oscar stage. She told OK! Magazine (via Metro), "I think she's adorable, and her story was so heart-warming. Before I knew I was going to play Fantine, I'd watched that clip when I was having a low day, and it just made me feel so wonderful."

Timothée Chalamet has had quite the transformation across his time in the spotlight, but back in 2009 during Susan Boyle's "Britain's Got Talent" audition, the future "Marty Supreme" star was only 14 years old. Chalamet became a massive fan of the singer, as he explained years later on a press tour. Asked to name the greatest Britons of all time by BBC News in 2025, Chalamet included Boyle on a list that also included the Beckhams and Formula 1 star Lewis Hamilton. "She dreamt bigger than all of us. Who wasn't moved by that?" he explained. "I remember that like it was yesterday. That was like the advent of YouTube, you know."

Boyle evidently came across a video of the heartthrob praising her, and she took to Instagram (via BBC News) to thank him for his kind words. "Those early days were quite something, and to know that moment meant something to you all these years on truly humbles me," she wrote.

Then, ever the kind-hearted public figure one would hope her to be, Boyle added, "We all start somewhere, with a dream and a bit of hope, don't we? We should all dream big!" Adorably, she closed the comment with, "With love, Susan."

Susan Boyle may have competed on "Britain's Got Talent," but she's actually Scottish. Scotland is part of Great Britain, which is the name of the overall island; Scotland and England are two countries that make up the United Kingdom. While Britons more broadly have much to be proud of thanks to Boyle's superstardom, she means a little something extra to Scots who saw her succeed.

That includes Lewis Capaldi, the man behind big-voiced ballads like "Someone You Loved" and "Before You Go." In 2023, Capaldi took to social media after a fan joked that their father had mistaken him for Boyle. On TikTok (via PopSugar), he bemoaned the fact that the comparison came so early in January, writing, "great start to the new year." In the caption, Capaldi joked, "i dreamed a dream that ppl stopped telling me i looked like women in their 60s."

In the early days of Susan Boyle's fame, not everybody got on board the hype train. Some celebrities took the opportunity to trash the middle-aged woman's looks, and that included Ricky Gervais. He starred on one of the only almost-perfect seasons of a sitcom — the British version of "The Office" – but Gervais went on to make a name for himself as a comedian unafraid to call out any celebrity about anything, no matter how much it might offend them. It's what made him such an effective host of the Golden Globes, and it's what lands him in hot water very often for coming down too much on the side of "mean" instead of "funny."

Gervais crossed that line in 2012, when he insulted Boyle during a comedy routine (via SheKnows). In the set, he not only undermined her success and talent, but used an ableist slur. "There is no better word to describe Susan Boyle," he added.

Boyle gave Gervais a gracious response in The Sun, insisting that she doesn't let mean comments get to her. "I can take whatever Ricky says, because I'll tell you something — he's the one with the problem, not me," Boyle reasoned. "Ricky's a talented man but he's wasted himself with those comments. I think people who liked him are not so keen now."

Longtime reality show judge Sharon Osbourne wasn't one of the "Britain's Got Talent" judges who watched Susan Boyle bowl the world over with her rendition of "I Dreamed A Dream," but that didn't stop Osbourne from judging Boyle anyway. On SiriusXM in 2009 (via HuffPost), Osbourne took a number of cruel digs at Boyle's physical appearance and suggested she needed to shave. "God bless her. It's like, 'You go girl,'" Osbourne said. "She is a lovely lady. You just want to say 'God bless' and 'Here's a Gillette razor.'"

Osbourne's feuds with fellow celebrities are well-documented; she's taken aim at everyone from Lady Gaga to Kanye West. She's been just as likely to double down as she has been to say she's sorry, but in this case, Osbourne apologized for what she'd said about Boyle. She took to Facebook, as we did in those days, to set the record straight. "Susan Boyle is a lovely gracious woman and I took advantage of that by poking fun at her," Osbourne wrote. "I would never want to be responsible for hurting Susan and I must apologize for getting a cheap laugh at her expense."

Wendy Williams' love of Susan Boyle seems to have been a genuine source of joy. If any celebrity was going to say something snarky about Boyle, you might expect it to be Williams. After all, the former radio host made a career out of spilling the tea on celebrity culture, winning devotees to her talk show "Wendy" by being unafraid to give her opinion on any of the day's hot topics. When Boyle appeared on "Wendy" in 2013, however, Williams couldn't help but fangirl over the singer.

"We're back with the sensational Susan Boyle!" Williams gushed in a clip shared to YouTube. Stumbling over some of those sounds, she confessed, "You've got me nervous. I — we are such fans here."

In behind-the-scenes footage, Williams went on to praise Boyle's willingness to joke around on set. "I really enjoyed meeting her," she said. Noting that the singer initially seemed shy but opened up once she started to sing, Williams reasoned, "She's not like me or you." Furthermore, the host said she'd sent Boyle a gift years earlier, when her audition clip first went viral. "She got the garden gnome I sent her," Williams revealed, "and she thanked me for that."

When Susan Boyle first auditioned for "Britain's Got Talent," she told the judges that the particular dream that she'd dreamed was to be the next Elaine Paige. The West End legend, it seems, was a massive inspiration behind Boyle's love of music, and after Boyle went mega-viral for hoping to be like Paige, you might assume that Paige would have some words of encouragement for the newcomer.

"She was like a virus that spread across the world in a nanosecond," Paige said on an awards-show red carpet, making headlines for what seemed to be an insulting comment. However, as The Guardian reported in 2010, the comments weren't what they sounded like. "It's all about turning someone into an immediate celebrity at the ­expense of longevity and working hard and experience," Paige clarified. "Susan Boyle is doing terribly well considering she literally came to the attention of the world overnight."

In other words, it seems like Paige might have been thinking something along the lines of "viral," rather than "a virus." Hey, it was 2010; we can cut her some slack. Thankfully, Paige and Boyle went on to work together, teaming up for a segment on "America's Got Talent" that saw Paige once again confessing her ignorance of the internet. "I didn't know what this was all about," Paige said, per The Guardian, " so I went on to the YouTube. And there you were." It's more a "statement of fact" than "compliment," but we'll take it; it's better than calling the woman "a virus!"

While Susan Boyle's viral "Britain's Got Talent" audition may seem like an important landmark of the Internet age, we regret to inform you that it was almost twenty years ago. Boyle is now very much a legacy act, much like Oasis, the 1990s megastars behind hits like "Champagne Supernova" and "Wonderwall." While bandmates Liam and Noel Gallagher are the poster boys for celebrities who have strained relationships with their siblings, Oasis revealed during their 2025 reunion tour that they're fans of Boyle.

When the band performed in Edinburgh in Boyle's native Scotland, Liam took to Instagram to dedicate the show to the "Unchained Melody" cover artist. "THIS ONE'S FOR SUSAN BOYLE," he wrote in all-caps, alongside a slideshow of black and white photos of himself and his brother.

SuBo hopped in the comments to thank the boys for the shout-out, writing (via People), "Gutted to have missed you in Edinburgh." She also posed for her own Instagram photo in an Oasis shirt, captioning the snap, "Thanks so much for the dedication @liamgallagher." Adding an emoji wearing sunglasses, she wrote, "You've made this old girl's day."

While Susan Boyle's dream of being the next Elaine Paige might not have quite materialized the way she hoped, she did get to meet another of her musical inspirations, and that experience seems to have gone much better than hearing that Paige had called her "a virus."

Boyle is also a massive fan of Donny Osmond, the '70s heartthrob who is barely recognizable today. In 2012, however, Boyle had the opportunity to work with Osmond. After recording a duet together, they performed on "Dancing with the Stars," joining each other onstage for "This Is The Moment," a song from the musical "Jekyll & Hyde," stunning the audience as their voices perfectly complemented one another. Backstage, in a joint interview posted to YouTube, Boyle said she grew up singing along to Osmond's records. She even confessed to owning a blanket with Osmond's face on it ... still!

As much as the Scottish singer is a fan of the former teen idol, Osmond told Boyle that he was blown away by her voice. "I'll never forget the first time I saw you sing," he said, admitting that he'd been as hesitant about her performance as the judges were. "You opened your mouth and it was the voice of an angel," he said. "And I'm not making this up cause you're sitting next to me. I started crying."

In 2026, Susan Boyle made headlines when she stunned her Instagram audience by announcing that a new era was on the way. Posing for a series of dramatic shots that appeared to be paparazzi snaps, Boyle debuted a severe blonde bob, strutting down the street in a big fur jacket and sunglasses. Her Instagram comments quickly filled with supportive notices from other celebs. "i dreamt this dream," commented Katy Perry. PinkPantheress wrote, "OKAYYY," and YouTube star Tyler Oakley simply said, "Oh!"

Eagle-eyed commenters noted that Boyle had hashtagged the post #ad, and sure enough, the brand-new look was part of a campaign for Cornetto, a British ice cream brand, in support of the Scottish team at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Boyle sang a new version of their iconic jingle "Just One" morphed into a thumping dance track, writing on Instagram, "The SuBOP of the summer is yours."

In the accompanying ad, Boyle even appears to breakdance. Speaking with Capital Scotland (via EW), Boyle joked, "I don't know how I managed it!"