Viewers of the upcoming two-part documentary Girlbands Forever on BBC Two will be left slack-jawed by some of the biggest female popstar confessions from the 1990s, including Kerry Katona and Melanie Blatt.
The dizzy highs and dark lows of some of the biggest girlbands of the 1990s are the subject of a jaw-dropping two-part BBC Two documentary that will be broadcast on television. shocking revelations, including aborted babies, cruel fat-shaming, and shocking revelations.
Girlbands Forever explores not only the hordes of adoring fans, swanky hotels and sold-out stadiums, but a very different era in which record companies had barely heard of the term ‘duty of care’, and seemed to care little for stars’ mental health.
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Featuring powerful insights from members of Sugababes, Atomic Kitten, Eternal, Mis-teeq and Little Mix, it pulls back the veil on exactly what it meant to be in a successful girlband in the Nineties and early Noughties.
One of its most incredible testimonies comes from All Saints singer, Melanie Blatt, who was the veteran broadcaster Louis Theroux, who was the follow-up to last year’s eye-opening three-part documentary about boybands.
Melanie, 50, claims that she was pressured into getting an abortion at the height of the band’s fame – alongside her bandmate, Nicole. The Never Ever singer, who was expecting a baby with Jamiroquai bassist Stuart Zender at the time, maintains she was told that having a baby would ‘ruin’ the band.
It was undoubtedly a surprise because I hadn’t been with my partner for very long. People didn’t give us congratulations. More like the realization that things are going to change and the dread and worry that surrounds it.
She continued, “At the airport LAX, our manager, he was behind us, was telling us to abort our babies,” after landing in Los Angeles at one point, where the band was also enjoying fame.
Melanie went on to have her daughter, Lilyella on November 20, 1998, the same month All Saints bagged the MTV Europe Music Award for best breakthrough artist. Nicole, however, chose to terminate her pregnancy, a bombshell revealed in 2002 autobiography Under The Bridge, penned with bandmate and sister, Natalie.
Dating Robbie Wiliams at the time, the former Take That star’s biopic Better Man even shows the former couple decorating the nursery together – before Nicole’s management stepped in.
She stated in the 2002 book that she was shocked when Robbie said, “This baby is saving my life,” and that he had had my abortion later that year. What I had done was beyond my comprehension. I desired to commit suicide.
She continued, “Everyone later pretended it hadn’t occurred.” I avoided confrontation because I was afraid. I’m just starting toregain my self-assurance. But I had to confront it all when I wrote about it. I’m so happy I did it.
But Melanie’s isn’t the only shocking story to come out of those heady days of Cool Britannia – where the world was gripped by girl power, particularly in the form of Baby, Sporty, Scary, Ginger and Posh, aka, the Spice Girls.
Eternal legend and occasional Loose Woman Kéllé Bryan, s just 15 when she signed her first record deal recalls how, behind the scenes, she was encouraged to lose weight during the peak of the band’s fame – admitting ‘Everything we ate was controlled.”’
As she told the Mirror, “Stylists would come along and say ‘this doesn’t fit you’,…. They sent us away to this place in the countryside where they were controlling what we ate. When I look back on it, you think that was crazy, but it’s what they did.”
Atomic Kitten’s Natasha Hamilton also paints a bleak picture of just how much pressure she and her bandmates were under – from feeling like she’d got the best job in the world, she found herself dealing with punishing tours, frayed friendships and, like Kelle, worries about her figure.
The Liverpudlian mother-of-five told the Mirror, “I’m hoping that people will come to terms with this documentary because it’s all smoke and mirrors.”
There would be some fat-burning supplements that we would take to try and get like a six-pack, Natasha says. No one made us do that, but it’s obvious that our body image was very distorted in those days. In three days, we received six-packs. That is something I will never do at this time.
Natasha also gave birth to her first child Josh at the age of 19, but initially kept it a secret from her manager. When Josh was delivered via C-section, Natasha was given six weeks off to recover from her pregnancy.
“I basically have a child,” says Mirror. I have no knowledge of pregnancy or postpartum. Throughout my pregnancy, I went on tour. So when I’m told, “OK, you can have six weeks off and then come back and do a show,” I’m just like, “OK.”
Another former Atomic Kitten singer, OK! columnist Kerry Katona also contributes to the show. Admitting it wasn’t just about pop stardom for her, but a means of escape from a tough upbringing and a way to finally feel loved’ – she confesses that her time in the bubble of 90s girl pop was traumatic, in parts.
“I still experience PTSD from it. With the glamour modeling, the foster homes, the refuges, and the drug abuse, I had so many skeletons in my closet at the time. You were made to believe that you had screwed up everything and that your career would be destroyed.
On BBC Two on Saturday November 1 at 9:20 p.m., watch Girlbands Forever.
Source: Mirror
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