Aguilera tells of 'mental hell'

Christina Aguilera has told how she still suffers panic attacks after being beaten by her father when she was a child.

The singer said US Army sergeant Fausto Aguilera put her entire family through mental hell.

She told US Weekly that her mother, Shelly Kearns, suffered the brunt of his temper when they lived together in Japan, where he was stationed.

Ms Kearns, 42, said domestic violence was a regular occurrence and she was so terrified she once slept with the anti-attack spray Mace under her pillow.