Former ALLY McBEAL star Portia De Rossi was horrified when she met her hero Sting on the set of the defunct TV series - because she didn't realise the rocker was colourblind.

The actress met Sting for the first time several years ago on St Patrick's Day and couldn't understand why the singer didn't find the fact that she'd dyed her Maltese terrier BEAN green for the day hilarious.

She recalls, "I dipped my Maltese into a vat of green food dye and it was around the same time that Sting was guest starring on Ally McBeal, so when I met Sting I had little Bean under my arm, who's green.

"I said, 'Sting, this is Bean, or should I say Green,' and he looked at me strangely and then walked away.

"His bodyguard must have felt so sorry for me that he came back and he said, 'Sting didn't understand that joke because he's colourblind.'"

19/03/2004 09:25