A best selling children’s author said she “sobbed like a baby” after she was detained and “insulted” by US border control officials in Los Angeles.

Mem Fox said she was subjected to aggressive questioning over her visa for two hours in front of a room full of people after she was stopped en route to a conference in Milwaukee.

The Australian author who is best known for her best-selling books Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes and Possum Magic, added she had travelled to the US 116 times before without incident.