Nicole Scherzinger terrified of losing fortune

Singer Nicole Scherzinger is terrified of losing her fortune after suffering poverty during her childhood.

The former Pussycat Dolls star, who is dating British racing driver Lewis Hamilton, had a hard time growing up after her father walked out on the family when she was a youngster.

As a child, Scherzinger wore second-hand clothes and learned to go without life's luxuries, but the singer is determined never to sink back into poverty.

She tells Britain's Marie Claire magazine, "Everybody is subconsciously conditioned by the environment they grow up in. We didn't have the easiest time in my household. Sometimes my mum would say, 'This is what you call a dysfunctional family,' so I learned that word at a very young age...

"My mum had the crappiest car and I'd make her drop me off a couple of blocks from school. We couldn't afford the luxury of getting a year book or school photos or anything like that.

"Mum got all my clothes from second-hand stores and garage sales. And to think of losing (my fortune) scares me because I grew up with nothing."