Billie attacked over 'poisonous' autobiography

Young, 67, took the unusual decision to criticise one of her proteges following the publication of the book, Growing Pains, for which the actress, 24, signed a six-figure contract.

In the book, the former Doctor Who star writes that teachers ignored the fact that many of the pupils had serious weight problems and that she was constantly told she "should be lighter, smaller (and) thinner".

Piper, whose success mirrors that of former Sylvia Young graduates Denise Van Outen, Emma Bunton and Nicole and Natalie Appleton, writes of the other students: "They had perfect fringes and perfect brows and talked about iambic pentameters with their perfect vowels."

She adds: "My nonchalance for my own appearance soon changed. I noticed after about a week of being there that the girls just didn't eat.

"In fact they'd go to the toilet to escape the smell of food wafting out of the canteen. There were kids walking around with ankle weights strapped to their legs and no-one would say anything."

The former singer said she was stifled by the school, where parents told their children to eat carrot sticks at lunch and where many pupils had super-rich parents who were living vicariously through their children.

Piper is one of Young's most successful pupils - becoming at the age of 15 the youngest artist ever to debut at number one in the UK singles chart.

Following her success as Rose in Doctor Who, the star, now split from husband Chris Evans, has been snapped up by broadcasters for lead roles in the likes of Mansfield Park and The Ruby in the Smoke.

But Young told Heat magazine: "I am very worried about Billie. I really wonder if there's something wrong, because to me, my staff and even Billie's former classmates, this sounds nothing like the girl we knew, nor the experiences we know she had here."

She adds: "She made references to being a poor girl among lots of 'stinking rich' kids, but 80% of the pupils in her class were given assistance from us to attend."

She says: "Most of them had cockney or northern accents, especially in her class. Besides, Billie herself was quite middle-class, with excellent diction. Any suggestion that she was working class is pure fantasy."

She tells Closer: "I know a teacher suggested ankle weights for a specific ballet exercise, but they were never walking around the school as she describes.

"There was one girl who had a thing about carrot sticks, and we actually used to feed her up.
"Billie writes that she was constantly told she should be lighter, smaller, thinner'. I don't believe it. The size of our pupils have never been important".

Young adds: "She managed three years - so it can't have been that bad. She only left to do her recording.

"I'm surprised she's come out with all this rubbish. It's extremely disappointing ... much of it seems poisonous and largely fiction."
The full story appears in the current edition of Heat magazine.