LIZ MCCLARNON CALMS HERSELF

It's taken her a lot of struggle to get them under control, but Liz McClarnon has finally beaten the panic attacks which made her life a misery while she was in Atomic Kitten. Yes, back when their horrid covers of Kool and The Gang were making our lives uncomfortable hers was pretty grim, too:

"It was hard to get me on stage because I thought someone was in the crowd was going to shoot me," says Liz, 24. "I was totally paranoid."

Hey, you kick a hellcat like Kerry Katona out the band, you've got to expect some sort of retribution.

Now, though, Liz has found mental peace again through, it seems, a relaxing mantra of therapy-speak:

"I made mistakes and it had a knock-on negative effect," admits Liz. "I was vulnerable and I went for the wrong type of man.

"It wasn't that they were nasty, it was just that we weren't giving each other what we needed, so it was self-destructive.

"I was getting hurt and hurting other people, then feeling guilty. I think everybody goes through something like that at one point. But then something clicked inside me and I'm a different person now."

What's interesting is while she was afraid she couldn't go on stage in case someone shot her, and suffering all these panic attacks, she did manage to breathe into a brown paper bag long enough to sign the contract - and appear - on Celebrity Love Island. Live on ITV night after night after night.

Still, it's a good job she did, as it provides a handy explanation for how she's got so little to show for a three-year post-Kitten career:

"Eighteen months ago I pretty much wrote my album, but since doing Celebrity Love Island I feel completely different about so many things, so I've scrapped loads of songs and started again," she explains.

"I'm still using parts of songs and melodies but lyrically everything's changed because I feel so differently about so many things.

"It was more lovey-dovey before, but now it's more empowering, saying F you if you don't agree with me. It's a more confident me, but I'm also a lot less serious than I was in the past. There's more of the real me coming out in this music."

But you've just told us that the real you in a panic-attack prone woman who makes shit choices when choosing a partner. Where are you planning on touring this - day centres?

More to the point: if you've written such a shining album, why are you leading off with a pisspoor Barbara Streisand cover?

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