On Monday afternoon (May 11), [article id="1609451"]Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle[/article] claimed her rightful place among the Hollywood glitterati when she appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Boyle discussed how her life has changed since her "Britain's Got Talent" rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" transformed her overnight from an unknown to the celebrity topic du jour.

What does the 48-year-old Boyle think of her newfound fame? "Pretty awesome!" she told Oprah, adding later, "It's like a dream come true."

Oprah's crew visited Boyle at her home in Scotland earlier in the week and then, dressed in a yellow shirt and fuzzy brown sweater, she joined Oprah and [article id="1610048"]"BGT" judge Simon Cowell[/article] via satellite for an interview.

While Boyle said more than once that she's "loving every second" of her time in the spotlight, she did confess to being unable to completely process her newfound celebrity. "It all takes a bit of time to take in," she said. "Things have happened so quickly.

"I get recognized in the street," she continued. "I get asked for autographs. ... I've been getting quite a few letters and quite a few cards from all over the globe."

Boyle was also quick to dismiss the media and Internet obsession with her supposed makeover. "I did a bit," she said with a shrug of her dyed hair and new clothes. "But that was just to tidy myself up like any other female would have done."

Cowell's opinion on the brouhaha over Boyle's makeover was simple: "It's all about you and your singing voice now," he told Boyle. "Whatever you feel comfortable with, you do."

During the segment, Boyle went into detail about her childhood, saying she was the youngest of nine children and picked up singing from her mother at age 12. "At school, I was encouraged to be in choirs," she said. "I was kind of a slow learner in school, so getting something like singing was a good way of hiding behind that and boosting my confidence."

Boyle was very close with her mother, and when she died two years ago, Susan did not sing for a while. "You try and keep going through that pain," she said.

But music also proved to be helpful in dealing with her grief. "That's what I try to do with the singing," Boyle explained. "I was very slowly getting over it. One of the reasons I applied for the TV show was to try and see if I could perform in front of an audience."

When Cowell asked Boyle if she wanted to win the talent competition, she gave a diplomatic answer. "I have every chance," she said. "But at the same time, there [is] a lot of other talent in the competition, so I'm willing to take my place with them."