Cher Lloyd reveals bullying fear (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

Cher Lloyd reveals bullying fear

2:39pm Tuesday 7th February 2012 in National Entertainment News © Press Association 2011

Cher Lloyd has revealed she's cried herself to sleep over internet bullies.

The Swagger Jagger singer told BBC's Panorama that online slurs have left her "very scared" and she receives up to 10 tweets a day from people attacking her Romany gypsy heritage.

The 18-year-old former X Factor contestant said: "There have been many times where I've cried myself to sleep. I'm very scared because I like to think that people think I'm strong, because if they don't they might not think I can do it. I am (strong) in some ways but I think some days I just wish that people would leave me alone for a little bit or I wish for there to be a hole to suck me in."

Cher confessed that she was initially flattered by the attention her X Factor appearances created online.

She said: "My Facebook page exceeded the amount of friends you could have, it was exciting for me. I just kept clicking confirm, confirm, I couldn't believe how many people wanted to be my friend because growing up was a bit different for me, I wasn't able to have friends like that because I was very, very different."

Cher has previously called for the government to do more about online bullying, saying not enough was being done on social networking sites to protect young people.