The Olympic golden girl has grown into a fully-fledged pop princess, all without a hint of scandal.

Funny man Rove McManus pretended to spike her lemonade – and she once trashed Michael Jackson’s hotel suite – but that’s the extent of any scandal in pint-sized singer Nikki Webster’s past. No Drew Barrymore-style stints in rehab, no battles with booze and pills, no anorexia or bulimia scares, not even any unsuitable boyfriends.

“In fact, no serious boyfriends at all,” laughs Australia’s former child sweetheart, who flew to worldwide fame as “Hero Girl” at the Sydney Olympics in front of four billion TV viewers. “Maybe the time will come one day.”

At 17, the curly-haired poppet’s all grown up. And still the only secret in her closet is a serious fashion habit, courtesy of her best-selling Kmart clothing range. She may be a good girl, but this teenager is far from ordinary, whatever she might say. After all, how many 17-year-olds have partied with Michael Jackson? Nikki sang a duet with Michael, before his subsequent disgrace, on the then-superstar’s HIStory tour of Australia. It was her first, and only, brush with rock ‘n’ roll-style bad behavior.

“I don’t get starstruck, but when I was younger, I guess Michael Jackson was the person who made me think, ‘Oh my gosh,’” admits Nikki. “When I met him, he was the nicest person, and I’m not going to make a judgement on him now.

“He invited a whole bunch of us kids up to his suite after the show. He was giving away PlayStations and everything. One boy even asked for the TV, but Michael explained it wasn’t his; it belonged to the hotel! We were having M&M’s fights, there was Fanta sprayed all over the walls. That room was trashed by the time we left!

“Michael was great, so down-to-earth, but he wouldn’t show us how to moonwalk,” she continues. “He said something that’s stuck with me ever since. He told us, ‘Actually, I’m the most nervous person you could hope to meet, until I get out there on stage. It’s the audience that makes me confident.’ And I thought back to that when I was doing the Olympics.”

Famous friends aside, Nikki’s proud to have stayed true to herself. “Everyone’s tried to corrupt me, even Rove, although I’m sure it was just his sense of humour,” grins the multi-talented musician, actress, dancer, designer and fledging business tycoon who, astonishingly, has just released a Best Of Nikki Webster compilation.

“It’s been four years since the Sydney Olympics, and I guess that’s been a wake-up call,” says the Strawberry Kisses singer – fresh out of school after sitting her final exams, and happily living at home in Sydney with proud parents Tina and Mark. “That’s why I’m bringing out this album, to remind everybody that I’m nearly 18 and driving around like anyone else. I’m not 13 forever, you know! People hold on to that Hero Girl image and forget I’ve grown up like any other teenager.

“So this CD is a collection of the best things I’ve done, everything I’ve been through until today,” she explains. “It’s like a coming of age, enabling me to move on, take a different direction and when I turn 18, see what happens!”

Fans, however, need not fret. Although Nikki met Kylie at the 2000 Olympics, stays in touch, and views her as something of a mentor, she won’t be seen gyrating raunchily on screen in tight gold hotpants. At least, not any time soon. Beneath the golden ringlets and elfin smile, diminutive Nikki masks a sharp intelligence, focused drive and strong sense of self. She’s well aware becoming an adult isn’t always easy, especially when you’re in the spotlight.

“I’m often asked why I don’t start acting sexy, but that’s not me,” she maintains. “I’m pretty strong, I won’t be pushed into anything. And besides, I don’t want to let down my supporters. I think I understand their frame of mind because I meet them when I go out on tour.”

“People have grown up with me and watched me grow through my career – I even get grandparents coming up to me and kissing me! They nurture me, so I’m not interested in coming back as some completely different person. I think I’ll always stay the same.”

This is undoubtedly good news for the tweenies, mums and dads who idolise her – and even for the strange red-blooded blokes who voted Nikki into 96th place on a list of the world’s “100 Sexiest Women” in 2003.

But Ms Webster is loathed, as well as loved. Although her first hit, Strawberry Kisses, stayed at number two on the music charts for eight weeks, commercial radio canned it. Triple M’s switchboard reportedly “lit up” with listeners nominating the lollipop single for the stations “worst song hunt”.

Nikki shrugs philosophically. “I guess people think I’m an easy target because I’m young. I was warned about the tall-poppy syndrome way back, before the Olympics – but surely we’re over bagging Australian artists, after the overseas success of Kylie and Olivia?

“I’ve got the best and worst of it because I do have some great people who like what I do. But the negative stuff that goes around was hard to deal with when I was 13. I developed a really thick skin, and grew up very fast. Now I tend to take it all with a pinch of salt. Not everyone’s going to like you. And the criticism comes mainly from people who haven’t met me or spent any time with me, so it’s not like it’s personal.”

“Be strong and stay true to yourself, that’s all you can do. Look at Kylie, who ignores all the knockers and keeps coming back, bigger and better than ever. See, she’s proved all the people wrong who bagged her out, and I’ll be the same. God, at least I haven’t been called anything as terrible as ‘the singing budgie’!

“Hopefully, it shines through that I love what I’m doing. The only reason I’m out there – and I’m sure it’s the same with Kylie – is my passion for music and performing and for what I can offer other people.”

It’s a passion she discovered as a tiny girl at Saturday dance classes, to the bewilderment of her childcare-director mum and electrician dad. “Neither of us have a musical bone in our bodies,” confesses mum Tina. “It must be a fluke somewhere, because our son Scott’s also a talented musical theatre performer!”

Now a seasoned artist, Nikki filmed her first commercial at the age of five and later appeared on stage with stars such as Bert Newton and Lisa McCune in Cinderella, The Sound Of Music, Les Miserables, Aladdin, and The Wizard Of Oz.

Source: Woman’s Day
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