Beyonce Knowles' whole family used to help her fasten her clothes because she was so fat.

Despite now being regarded as one of the world's most beautiful women, the 'Bootylicious' singer has revealed she was a "chubby and ugly" child who struggled to fit into her trousers.

She said: "Of course I've had an ugly period. When I was around 10 or 11, my mother gave me this really ugly haircut and I was really, really chubby. So chubby that my family used to all lay me down flat so they could zip up my jeans. It took four of them and I would lie there on the bed while they all got to it."

Beyonce - who is married to rapper Jay-Z - was just 15 when she found fame with her group Destiny's Child and admits she sometimes regrets not having normal teenage experiences.

The 27-year-old star added to Britain's Glamour magazine: "There were certain moments when I was 18 and would look out of the window and see girls going to parties with their boyfriends and think, 'How am I ever going to meet anybody?' I couldn't just go on a date and nobody was going to ask me out.

"I was working too hard and not exposed to people my own age so I didn't know how I was going to meet them."

(China Daily/Agencies May 8, 2009)