The
actions of an over eager fan after a performance has prompted New Zealand singer
Hayley Westenra to hire a bodyguard amid stalker fears.
The
19 year-old was grabbed by a man as she walked off stage after a performance
in Berlin last week, The New Zealand Herald reported today.
"This
has really unnerved me, it's put me on edge," the soprano reportedly told
the British newspaper the Sunday Express.
"I've
spent my whole life on stage and I feel safe up there; it's the one place that
is really my space."
Westenra's
parents said last night while they were concerned, they were confident their
daughter's team would keep her safe.
Her
bodyguard has a black belt in tae kwon do and has worked for such celebrities
as Victoria Beckham and Mariah Carey, the newspaper reported.
Westenra's
mother, Jill, said the Berlin incident followed the antics of a German fan, who
got into her daughter's birthday bash on a forged invitation. Guards escorted
the man out, but he turned up during a rehearsal for a Westenra show last December.
The
man had also posted Westenra sexually inappropriate mail - some of which he sent
to her home in Christchurch. Her family and management intercepted it
