Charlotte Church has turned 18

The actual location of the event is being kept firmly under wraps, but the singer laughed off the idea that Justin Timberlake and Robbie Williams would be among the guests.

"As if they would come to my little party," she said, before revealing it would be a family affair.

Wherever it is though, Cardiff on Saturday night is sure to be awash with papparazzi trying to get pictures of Church with her new boyfriend Kyle Johnson.

In the second of a three-part series, BBC News Online looks at how the teenager's love-life has become a national obsession.

Aside from her continued musical success, stories about Church as she grew up were focussed on her High Court battle with her manager, pictures of her smoking and the outrage that followed when a 16-year-old was named Rear of the Year.

Charlotte's mother did not approve of Steven Johnson

But the frenzied interest in her boyfriends, began when she started going out with DJ Steven Johnson, a DJ from the Grangetown area of Cardiff, who did not have the approval of Charlotte's mother Maria.

The relationship strained the close bond between mother and daughter, especially after the 19-year-old was accused of offering to sell sex secrets to tabloid reporters at a Cardiff hotel.

Since the couple split last December, Church has been linked to suitors including with Oxford student Ed Foy, who she met on holiday in St Lucia, and teenager Kyle Johnson (no relation to Steven), who comes from the Ely district of Cardiff.

Steven, meanwhile, is launching a modelling career and has appeared on a documentary talking about his relationship with the star.

Maria Church told News Online she did not understand why her daughter attracted so much public interest.

Maria Church said media attention "drives her up the wall"

"It drives me up the wall - but I suppose she has grown up in the public eye, and people have grown up with her," she said.

She admitted she noticed the attention more than her daughter.

"She has got used to it - she says singing is her job".

Ms Church admitted fame did have its up-sides, such as when she met Tom Cruise on a chat show in America.

"He actually asked to meet her. They said no-one was to bother him, but he turned up at her dressing room with his kids.

"Charlotte's face was a picture."

After her debut album, Voice Of An Angel, was released on 9 November 1998, Church's success spiralled on both sides of the Atlantic.

Her first 18 years have been total success - she has turned out the way every parent wants Johnathan Shalit, Former manager

Church's headteacher at Howells, Jane Fitzgerald told News Online the school was keen to keep disruption down to a minimum as her fame grew.

"We decided very early on that we were going to keep the media away," she said.

"It just got ridiculous - I think it reached the point of enough was enough when they were coming from as far away as South America."

But, despite all the pressures of international stardom, her relaxed attitude surprised music industry moguls.

Chris Griffin, who worked with Sony as a marketing consultant, told News Online that, "even when she was only 12, it felt like you were talking to someone in their mid-20s".

And she was not starstruck either - after meeting Bill Clinton, one of her only comments was that he had a big nose.

But Mr Griffin did say that meeting the Pope in January 1999 "obviously meant a lot to her, as he blessed her grandmother's rosary beads."

Staff at Howells were bombarded by interest about their star pupil

Former manager Jonathan Shalit said that a lot of Church's attitude and behaviour was down to good parenting.

"Her parents have done everything expected of them as she turns 18."

Mr Shalit, who secured a �2m High Court settlement from the Churchs after being sacked as her manager, described the legacy of Church's first 18 years as "total success".

"She has turned out the way every parent wants, and is someone Wales and her parents can be proud of."

But Mr Shalit, who had high-profile falling out with Maria Church, defended her against accusations of living out her unfulfilled aspirations through her daughter.

"Maria Church is often portrayed as pushing her daughter to make things happen, but what made her career happen is Charlotte Church.

"From early on, it was very clear it was what Charlotte wanted to do."