Book excerpt: This sensational biography charts Christina Aguilera’s rise to the top in the face of parental issues, panic attacks, self-harm, and professional betrayals big and small. Initially driven by a compulsion to escape from her father, she took refuge in a private world of music, singing along with her favourite tapes. When she and her mother fled to escape the family home, Christina’s ambitions to sing made her the victim of school bullying, but after a breakthrough stint on TV in Disney’s The New Mickey Mouse Club she finally won a record deal. Rejecting bids to mould her into a bubblegum pop act by suppressing her sexuality and changing her Ecuadorian name, she attracted threats, rumours and criticism from those she alienated. Marriage, motherhood and divorce followed, but through it all she fought on and emerged not only a superstar but also a feisty spokesperson for female empowerment.