People News

Nelly Furtado didn't want celebrity

Sep 29, 2012, 14:01 GMT

Nelly Furtado

Nelly Furtado never wanted to be a celebrity.

The 33-year-old singer - who shot to worldwide fame after the release of her first single 'I'm Like A Bird' in 2000 - admits she felt pressure to succeed in the 'very crazy' showbiz world following the success of the track.

She said: 'I never wanted to be a celebrity. I was completely aware that when my first single went crazy this was my big opportunity.

'I was a 21-year-old child who'd come from nothing and I was in this very fast, very crazy world.

'I was like, 'OK, what happens now?' And there was a sense of, 'Am I going to do something different with my life? What am I going to do?' '

Nelly embarked on a self-imposed six-year hiatus in 2006 after getting 'burnt out', but last year she got her 'life energy' back after helping a four-year-old girl, who had been adopted, into education during a visit to Kenya.

Nelly - who donated £615,000 to charity last year to help build schools in the African country - added: 'We made a documentary about the girls who got the best grades, who could go to high school.

'Only 40 could make it - but the girl who really changed my life was the one who almost made it; she was number 41 on the list.

'Adopted at four years old, after her mother found her in a field, she's a smart girl who blossomed. At the end of the documentary they made an extra space for her at the school. This kind of gave me back my life energy.'