Singing sensation star says she's handling attention

The unlikely star, who sprung to fame after her appearance on a British televised talent competition became an online hit, said she loves the attention and isn't bothered by those who poke fun at her unpolished appearance.

"It goes with the territory," Boyle told the Associated Press on Friday. "It doesn't bother me."In a telephone interview from her home in the Scottish town of Blackburn, Boyle did express some impatience with questions over her love life: The 47-year-old Scot raised eyebrows when she told a British television audience on Saturday that she'd "never been kissed."

"It was said as a joke, not an advert. Can we move on?" Boyle said, laughing. And as for the flood of attention with fans and even competition judge Piers Morgan offering to give her a peck Boyle said she's flattered, but isn't letting herself be carried away.

"If people want to kiss me, it has to be controlled," she said, still chuckling.Morgan took part in an interview Boyle via satellite with U.S. cable channel CNN. He asked her to have dinner with him in London and she accepted according to a transcript released ahead of her appearance Friday night on "Larry King Live."