Jenny McCarthy claims school bullies set her hair on fire

Jenny McCarthy has claimed school bullies set her hair on fire.

The TV star revealed she was often targeted by other pupils while attending an all-girls Catholic school during the 80s because she liked to experiment with make-up and hairstyles.

“I had my big giant '80s hair, my blonde hair down on my butt that was permed. Lots of make-up," Jenny said during an appearance on Kit Hoover’s The Coop with Kit podcast.

"When you go to an all-girls school, that's not appreciated… and it was very scary because they would like wait for me after school.

"They tried to - they did - light my hair on fire.”

Although the experience was traumatic at the time, the 51-year-old star has claimed it helped prepare her for the intimidating world of showbusiness.

“But looking back on that now, I realised it was almost like a training school for Hollywood because it taught me resilience, it taught me how to not take things so personally,” she explained.

Jenny, who is married to Donnie Wahlberg, also revealed she was too embarrassed to tell anyone she was being bullied in case they thought she was a “loser”.

"I didn't like people feeling sorry for me 'cause I felt like I can handle anything,” she recalled.

The US Masked Singer judge added that her mother only found out the truth when she discovered girls were waiting for Jenny after school to “beat her up”.