Anastacia chatted with Christa D’Souza of TheAge.com about how at 28 years old, she’s just starting to hit her stride at an age that’s almost time for retirement in the fickle music business when pop stars like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera are barely in their 20′s. The tiny but powerful singer said, “Hey, Britney had a 10-year career before anybody knew who she was, too, it’s just that she started out when she was about eight and I started out when I was about 18.” Read more.

The Daily Telegraph spoke with Anastacia about how much the 5 foot singer has overcome in her life to get to where she is now. The singer will have the theme song of this summer’s World Cup in Seoul called ‘Boom’. Anastacia explained that after doctors found she had Crohn’s disease at 13 and put the singer on steroids, “My skin broke out and I put on, like, 35 pounds. I had this great big moon face and got the worst depression.” She added, “I didn’t think anyone would want to touch me, I was so embarrassed and ashamed about the way I looked – especially since I was so short and I had such a large chest for my age. Nuh-uh, between the ages of 14 and 19, I was not that attractive.” As for being too old to compete with the Britney Spears’ and others, she said, “Hey. Britney had a 10-year career before anybody knew who she was, too, it’s just that she started out when she was about eight and I started out when I was about 18.”

Anastacia’s ‘Boom’ has been named the International Official Song of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Anastacia will debut the song during the internationally televised Final Draw for the 2002 FIFA World Cup on December 1st, 2001 in Busan, Korea.