Thea Garrett, who left Malta yesterday to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest, entered the world just as Mary Spiteri was pronounced the winner of the Eurosong festival with Little Child. She speaks to Ariadne Massa about bullying, her weight, being tripped up and how music is the balm to her soul.

Buried in a cuddly embrace of 39 monkey soft toys Thea's head peeks out, her doe-shaped eyes open wide as she tries to suppress a giggle and put on a straight face for the camera.

Sitting cross-legged on her bed, Thea tucks her feet under her dress to hide the blackish bruise snaking down her calf, a trophy of her first football match with a girls' team.

The 18-year-old is one of the lads, having the occasional beer - her Pomeranian puppy is called Bud - and cheering on her team. But when it comes to make-up and dresses, she is as girly as they come.

Trained as a make-up artist and beauty therapist, Thea holds up a small mirror and pats the fringe on her Lisa Minelli-inspired hairstyle. Bud whines outside, scratching at the door to come in and nuzzle up to the soft toys... and sneakily chew one of them when his owner is not looking.

She has been collecting the soft toys for the past three years, finding their resemblance to humans fascinating. Her friends caught up on this and are now showering her with monkeys in all shapes and sizes, creating a dilemma over which one to pack for her trip to Oslo as a good-luck charm for the Eurovision Song Contest.

She will be competing against 16 other countries in the first semi-final on May 25, with the song My Dream, written by Jason Cassar and Sunny Aquilina.

But while the chimps may have brought her good fortune during the local festival in February, they failed to ward off the actions of Grace Borg, former Maltasong chairman and owner of Exotique Record Label, who has taken Malta's Eurovision hopeful to court.

Last Friday, on the eve of Thea's departure to Oslo, Ms Borg filed a garnishee order of €18,000 against the young woman, effectively freezing her assets, for allegedly breaching an exclusivity contract.

Ms Borg had first pushed Thea into sharing the stage with Italian star Gigi D'Alessio in Rome. After she won the Eurosong festival and made a deal with PBS, Ms Borg came forward insisting she is still the singer's manager and should be involved.

The saga promises to continue in Norway as Ms Borg, together with business partner Andrea Milana, yesterday issued a statement saying they will be watching how the PBS team handles the situation and if they feel they are not delivering they will be held responsible. Ms Borg and Mr Milana are not ruling out the possibility of being present in Oslo themselves.

The statement ends: "We wish Thea the best as it is also in our interest. At no time did we want to hinder this success."

The timing of the garnishee order has dampened Thea's enthusiasm, but she wipes her tears, puts on a brave face and refuses to let anyone rob her of her dream.

"Unfortunately, I wanted this experience to be more positive, but I found several people wanting to trip me up... there were people who blinded us. As a family we were new to this and they showed up promising a path paved with gold," she says.

Thea stops short of mentioning names and this is where her parents, Marion and Sergio Falzon, step in and admit the court proceedings which started earlier this year have weighed down heavily on them.

Her father shakes his head at the irony that the morning the court upheld the garnishee order he had just secured the first credit card for his daughter, which is now useless.

"Possibly, within a few months we will look at this differently, but so far 50 per cent of the exhaustion has been waiting to see what (Ms Borg's) next move will be," he says.

Ms Falzon, who dropped three dress sizes with worry, adds: "I just want Thea to live her dream and let the lawyers do their job and deal with the case in court."

This was the first time Thea competed in a festival, so the family was completely new to how the industry worked and they entered the arena unarmed. But stopping to dwell on the roller-coaster emotions, they are still thrilled Thea got this far.

The couple always believed in their eldest child's talents. Thea was still six when she stunned her mother by attempting to imitate singers on television and belted out the highest note she could reach. Ms Falzon thought a soprano had landed in her kitchen.

They immediately signed her up with Masquerade Theatre Company and saw her advance under the guidance of vocal coach Gillian Zammit. Last year, she even competed in Voice of Tomorrow, where she came close to winning a prestigious scholarship at London's Royal Academy of Music after placing among the first 20 from some 22,000 contestants.

Thea is obsessed with musicals - Les Misérables is her favourite, followed by Blood Brothers - and her big dream is to hear her voice reverberate across the upholstered walls of theatres in London's West End.

But in the meantime, she is excited to be competing in the Eurovision. She entered the festival as a newcomer and beat the favourites.

"I went to the festival just to start getting known, become familiar with the people and gain experience. I was so relaxed. Backstage, I kicked off my shoes and told my mum, I wish they would just hurry up and announce the result because I just wanted to go to sleep... I haven't slept properly since. You can never forecast what's going to happen and there's always a surprise around the corner," Thea says.

She was born on March 15, 1992, just as the announcement was being made that Mary Spiteri had won the festival with Little Child.

"It seems like it was my destiny. I was always fascinated by the Eurovision. I've recorded all the editions since 1997. I never miss one show," she says, adding that Little Child remains one of her all-time favourite entries.

She still pinches herself at her luck. However, as with any entry her song was destined to be bashed by unforgiving Eurovision critics. There are those who feel her voice is impeccable but the song is no great shakes. What does she think about all this?

"Let's keep in mind this is the Eurovision we're competing in, not MTV.

"Everyone slams ballads, but should all the entries be fast-paced? My Dream is a typical Eurovision song, but everyone's mentality is focused on scantily-dressed dancers and quick rhythms, missing the whole point... I'm a big Eurovision fan and believe my song fits in perfectly."

Others believe the gigantic seagull, brought to life on stage by dancer Jes Sciberras, is kitsch, but then again the Eurovision is all about feather boas and glitter, so this may work in her favour.

The seagull is firmly grounded in her three-minute performance and Thea never had any intention to shoo him away despite the remarks.

"It's now a Eurovision Show Contest not a song contest, so whether you like it or not there has to be something accompanying you on stage. I wanted to keep the show as close as possible to what we presented on the local stage. I didn't think it's fair to have a different product," she says.

Dressmaker Frans Spiteri had to patiently sew on more than €400 worth of feathers to create the costume. Asked about her outfit, Thea confides the dress she plans to wear during the semi-final is very similar to the one she wore on the night.

"It's the same material and colour. I liked it because it creates a dreamy effect. It's just a different shape," she says.

But her childlike expression soon wrinkles into a frown, when she remembers the nasty remarks that came with the glory.

"Some called me fat and ugly, and described my song as ordinary. I guess you have to be prepared for these things and grow a thick skin, but I never realised how hard it would be. I especially didn't expect Maltese and Gozitans, who are supposedly renowned for their big hearts, to drag their own representative through the mud," she says.

She acknowledges the behaviour is a repetition of what Chiara faced whenever she competed in the contest, but the attacks still hurt.

"It's not my fault I became chubbier. They made me like that," she says, recalling how she was bullied between Grade 5 and Form 2 while at St Joseph School, Blata l-Bajda.

She was a mousey, skinny girl who never retaliated whenever the other girls picked on her.

"When they discovered I sang opera you can imagine the ridicule I endured... They always found something to tease me about."

As a consequence she resorted to gobbling anything that came her way, seeking comfort in food and ballooning.

"I'm now four times the size I was. It's easy to pile on the pounds but hard to lose weight," she says, adding she welcomed the hectic schedule of preparing for the contest because she lost eight kilos.

She is trying to be careful how many calories she consumes every day, but her love for pasta, especially her mother's spaghetti marinara, and Kit Kat chocolate are too much to resist.

"I'm doing this for myself, not because of people's comments. It's because I feel happier when I'm slimmer."

The bullying she faced inspired her tours to 20 schools after she won the Eurosong to encourage teenagers to believe in themselves.

"It was my personal wish because when I was their age, I was very disheartened and wanted to transmit the message to these children not to give up, no matter what obstacles they faced. Keep chasing your dream, whether you're being bullied or harassed - you can do it."

Does she feel more confident these days?

"I wish I had more confidence and believed more in myself, but I can never be 100-per-cent happy with myself. I'm not the shape I want to be. I've been bashed around because of my weight for too long... But I will keep focusing on my goals."

So far, the odds set by international bookmakers are not looking too rosy. Does this bother her?

"I have no idea of how people are betting. I really don't take any notice. This festival has always been full of surprises. People are always trying to predict who the winner is, but look what happened, especially in my case. Goodness knows how much money was lost. Why get demoralised when it can go either way?"

For Thea to qualify to the Eurovision final, her song has to be chosen among 10 from 17 entries competing in the semi-final. Is she optimistic?

"No. I try to be and I'm careful not to disillusion anyone, but deep inside Thea is a pessimist. It's a trait of mine that comes from low self-esteem," she confesses.

This year the hype in the run-up to the contest was unusually low-key. Has this worked in her favour to keep expectations low?

"It's not fair to boost everyone's expectations, because then it's a shock. I will do my best and then come what may. I'm going to Oslo, but I remain grounded. I'm ready for what's in store. I'm seeing this as the key to open the door to my career," she says.

Eurovision is just the beginning. Closing her eyes, she purses her lips as she concentrates on her ultimate dream.

"The West End... but you know what I wish for most? A healthy and happy family."

Watch excerpts on timesofmalta.com.