Bai Ling Bawls Over Madonna's Virgin Hit  10/31/05

Bai Ling burst into tears when she learned she'd have to perform Madonna's 1980s hit Like a Virgin for the new US reality TV show But Can They Sing? - because she'd never heard it before.

The sexy actress is one of a number of stars - including Joe Pantoliano, Morgan Fairchild and former boxing champ Larry Holmes - competing in the televised singing contest, and she admits that she found it far more challenging than acting.

She says, "It's kind of torture for me. The song they chose for me is Like A Virgin. When they gave me the song, I burst into tears. I said, 'I can't do this song. I've never heard it in my life. It's too difficult.'

"I had never seen Madonna's video either. I was trying to watch it to get some ideas of what she does."

And the Chinese actress admits that Madonna's track wasn't the only popular song she'd never heard before.

She adds, "At rehearsal, they asked us to sing Old McDonald Had a Farm.

Everybody knew it, but I had no clue. I said, 'Okay, I'll do the part of the pig.' One of the actors was like, 'What are you doing?'"