To the outside world, it looks like the life of a pop star is nothing but glamorous, with stars making millions, jetting around the world and adored by fans.
Yet now the stars of Britain’s biggest girl groups have come together to reveal the horrifying reality they faced while trying to live out their dreams.
Girlbands Forever takes a look at the mistreatment of singers in bands such as All Saints, Little Mix and Atomic Kitten – in a female take on last year’s BBC hit Boybands Forever.
Among the most harrowing revelations from the docuseries comes from All Saints’ Melanie Blatt, who was urged to have an abortion after becoming pregnant during the band’s heyday.
She revealed in 1998 that she was expecting her first child with former Jamiroquai bassist Stuart Zender, a year after All Saints topped charts internationally with their hit single, Never Ever.
By coincidence, fellow bandmate Nicole Appleton had also just found out she was pregnant with boyfriend Robbie Williams‘s baby.
All Saints, Atomic Kitten and Eternal stars revealed the horrifying truth about life in Britain’s biggest girl groups for the BBC docuseries, Girlbands Forever (pictured: Natasha Hamilton)
Among the most harrowing revelations from the docuseries comes from All Saints’ Melanie Blatt, who was urged to have an abortion after becoming pregnant during the band’s heyday
Speaking about the news, Melanie recalled: ‘Nic and I have been best friends since we were 11…
‘We took pregnancy tests in a hotel room in Canada and spent that whole night discussing bringing our kids up together. It was one of the best nights ever.’
However, after mounting pressure from their record label, Nicole opted to terminate her pregnancy.
Melanie explained: ‘It’s not really my place to talk about it but unfortunately, it was a very uncomfortable situation because I kept mine and she didn’t. That was a really tricky part of my existence, our existence.’
Discussing the reaction to their pregnancy news, she added: ‘I hadn’t been with my partner for very long, it was definitely a bit of a surprise.
‘It wasn’t people congratulating us. It was more like this look of dread and worry and the realisation that things are going to change.’
‘We flew to LA and at the airport LAX our manager, he was behind us, was telling us to abort our babies.’
She added that her bosses told them they were ‘going to ruin everything’ and ‘it was the end of the band’.
Melanie (pictured in 1998) recalled her bosses’ shocking reactions to finding out her and Nicole Appleton were pregnant during their time in the group
Pregnancy was a cause of contention for many girlband stars, with Atomic Kitten’s Natasha Hamilton confessing she was ‘terrified’ when she found out she was expecting her first child because she thought she’d be dropped from the band.
Yet Natasha kept working until the last possible minute, welcoming son Josh with ex-boyfriend Fran Cosgrave in August 2002, the same month they released their number one single, The Tide Is High.
‘It was decided I would go back to work six weeks after having Josh,’ she explained.
‘I was really nervous because I ended up having an emergency C-section so I was coming off the back of recovering into my first show.
‘I just remember the foreboding feeling knowing I was going to do a show I was not ready to do.’
Five months later the group were sent off on a promotional tour of East Asia, meaning Natasha was millions of miles away from home.
‘I just had this negative feed of thoughts about myself not being a good enough mum,’ she recalled. ‘It was like torture. I hid it really well…
‘When I was finally diagnosed with post-natal depression my doctor told me I needed six to 12 months off. I was given two weeks.’
Breaking down in tears, Natasha continued: ‘I was on stage and I was moving, there was nothing there. I couldn’t wait to get off stage every night.’
Admitting that’s what sparked her decision to quit the group, she concluded: ‘No one wants their career to end in such a pile of s**t but for me it did.
‘The girls weren’t ready to give Atomic Kitten up, deep down I didn’t want to. We were on the cusp of greatness and financial stability forever but I couldn’t see any way out of it.’
Atomic Kitten’s Natasha confessed she was ‘terrified’ when she found out she was expecting her first child (pictured with Jenny Frost And Liz McClarnon in 2005)
Sugababes’ Mutya Buena suffered a similar fate.
While she did not appear on the documentary, the band’s former manager Darcus Beese revealed there wasn’t enough support for the star when she welcomed her daughter Tahlia in 2005.
‘You want to be on the side of the artist but as the record label you’re never going to be,’ Darcus mused.
He revealed that Mutya had lost all interest in performing and had confided in him that she was struggling with the band, but he confessed: ‘I had no idea what post natal depression looked like, I would ask now, “how’s your mental health?”‘
Mutya, 40, ended up leaving the band just five months after giving birth.
Even more recently mental health issues have impacted girlbands.
Little Mix’s Perrie Edwards explained that just as they burst into the public eye as X Factor winners, social media began to explode, leading to intense trolling.
‘I did start believing I’m not good at this, I’m ugly,’ Perrie confessed: ‘People just say well, it’s what you signed up for.
‘I wanted to be singing for people not trolled. I didn’t want that, I didn’t sign up for that s**’.
Mutya Buena ended up leaving Sugababes five months after giving birth, with the band’s former manager Darcus Beese revealing there wasn’t enough support for the star
Trolling ramped up when Perrie started dating One Direction star Zayn Malik.
‘Social media was dark, it used to really hurt,’ she explained.
While the couple got engaged they ended up splitting in 2015, with Perrie recalling: ‘You’re hurting enough as it is, let alone everyone having an opinion about you.
‘Everyone wants to know your business and feels like they have ownership in that, you can’t escape it so you may as well just sing about it.’
Perrie went on to pen Shout Out to My Ex about Zayn, with song becoming Little Mix’s most successful single.
‘It was such a pivotal moment in Little Mix but at the same time it’s hard to deal with that publicly,’ Perrie confessed.
‘It just hurt and I went through a lot behind the scenes. It has a huge impact on your mental health.’
Perrie’s mental health issues became unbearable when the band headed out to perform in Las Vegas in 2017.
Little Mix’s Perrie Edwards explained that just as they burst into the public eye as X Factor winners, social media began to explode, leading to intense trolling
‘I didn’t want to go,’ Perrie confessed. ‘I was so exhausted. I tried getting out of the trip but then when we got there I started experiencing panic attacks.
‘I didn’t know what was happening at the time – I didn’t know what anxiety was – I ended up in hospital.
‘I didn’t want to let the girls down, I didn’t want to upset them. They had to do it without me and I hated it and really resented myself for it.’
Breaking down in tears she concluded: ‘When you’re in a group dynamic, even though you’re going through stuff individually you can’t really be selfish. So I tried to put on a brave face.’
Image was pivotal for the girlband stars of the Nineties, with the stars of Eternal revealing they were forced to lose weight by industry bosses.
Kéllé Bryan, 50, recalled: ‘People were always voicing concern about my weight and our weight as a band. Stylists would come along and say “oh this doesn’t fit you”.
‘We’re talking about an era where being size zero was popular, women looking like supermodels was important.’
Revealing how bosses ensured that Kelle, Louise Redknapp, and Easther and Vernie Bennett stayed slim, Kelle continued: ‘They sent us away to this place in the middle of the countryside where they were controlling what we ate.
‘When I look back at it I think that was crazy, but that’s what they did.’
Perrie’s mental health issues became unbearable when the band headed out to perform in Las Vegas in 2017 and she was hospitalised after a panic attack (pictured with Jade Thirlwall, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jesy Nelson)
Racism also played a part when it came to promoting girlbands.
Mis-Teeq, formed in 1999 with Sabrina Washington, Su-Elise Nash and Alesha Dixon, initially didn’t get the same support as white singers.
Su-Elise claimed: ‘Our PR company was pitching to get us covers for magazines but they wouldn’t consider us for the cover because they were worried three black girls would sell magazines.
‘It was offensive. Was it something I was going to let live with me? No. Something I was going to let stop me? No.
‘It definitely was not as easy as it would’ve been if we had one white member or were an all white girl group.’
Even juggernauts such as the Spice Girls weren’t immune from criticism.
Noel Gallagher branded the band a ‘big money making machine’ at the time, while he also took a swipe by claiming they were lying about their ages.
When asked about the group, the Oasis star mused: ‘Good luck to them, they’re young girls – or are they are as young as they say?
‘I’ll tell you this, if Geri Spice is 24 then she’s going to look f***ing rough when she’s 30!’
Eternal’s Kelle Bryan reveals the group were sent away to a fat camp in the countryside to ensure they lost weight (pictured with Easther Bennett, Louise Redknapp and Vernie Bennett)
Dame Vivienne Westwood also laid into the group at the time as she accused them of promoting mediocrity.
She said: ‘They’re just cultivating this attitude like push your way to the top, doesn’t matter if you’ve got talent, go for it, look in the mirror and go for it.
‘What people are marketing is disgusting behaviour.’
While attitudes towards the group seemingly softened with time, All Saints’ Melanie confessed she still harbours some resentment towards the Wannabe hitmakers.
She explained: ‘I genuinely had a problem with them.
‘All the years of work we’d [All Saints] put in and then they just came out and blew up so quickly. And were obviously manufactured, the band was made for a purpose.’
Asked what ‘girl power’, the Spice Girls’ signature slogan meant to her, Melanie scoffed: ‘Nothing!
‘We weren’t thinking about girls and boys, we were thinking we want to get our harmonies straight and be in the studio.’
Mis-Teeq, formed in 1999 with Alesha Dixon, Sabrina Washington and Su-Elise Nash, initially didn’t get the same support as white singers (pictured in 2003)
One thing that was more prevalent with girlbands than boybands, was the sexualisation of its singers.
Atomic Kitten were just teenagers when they released their debut single Right Now, which included sexually charged lyrics such as ‘So come on baby do it to me good now. Do it to me slowly’.
Natasha recalled: ‘We almost weren’t allowed to perform it on Live & Kicking because of some of the lyrics.
‘At the time I didn’t even know what I was saying, I was just saying the words, and there were hidden – well actually not a very hidden meaning at all.
‘If I saw my 16 year old daughter on stage singing that I’d go, “oh bit weird”, but we weren’t sexualised at all back then, we were just jumping around in trainers and jeans, really chaotically.
‘Because we were so girl next door it dampened down the meaning of the lyrics a bit and we got away with it.’
Natasha went on to reveal that they were left to their own devices while out on tour as teenagers, and that she’d wished they’d been cared for better.
She explained: ‘It was incredible but it was a million miles away from home and we had no parents there keeping us in line – we were running amok.
‘When I look back I wish there was more of an adult presence there all the time, my chaperone used to take me back to my hotel at 9pm and she’d go home and I’d go out.
‘The reality of it was we were on this fun escapade, but when that all quietened down and we went to bed there was a loneliness that came with it, I think that’s why we drank a lot.’
Atomic Kitten were just teens when they released their debut single Right Now, which included sexually charged lyrics such as ‘So come on baby do it to me good now’ (pictured in 2000)
The band were still teenagers when Kerry Katona began dating Westlife’s Brian McFadden, a romance that angered industry bosses.
Reflecting on the backlash, she mused: ‘They all went absolutely f***ing ape s**t.
‘They [Westlife] belonged to the fans, no one else is allowed to go near them.’
Revealing her run-ins with Westlife’s manager, she continued: ‘I remember Louis Walsh going, “I don’t like you, you’re trouble”.
‘I don’t like you either, I don’t f***ing work for you!’
Despite pressure to split, Kerry and Brian stayed together, with Kerry soon becoming pregnant with their daughter Molly.
‘Me and Brian were babies’, she mused. ‘When it got out I couldn’t handle the press, I couldn’t handle the fame, I just wanted to be married and have kids and create that family unit.’
She left the band and was promptly replaced by Jenny Frost.
Yet her fairytale ending wasn’t all she hoped for, with Kerry reflecting: ‘Brian left me anyway, I turned to drugs to cope with it, it was a s**t time.’
Kerry’s cocaine addiction has been widely publicised but she has now been proudly sober for 16 years after two rehab stints.
Atomic Kitten were still teenagers when Kerry began dating Westlife’s Brian McFadden, a romance that angered industry bosses (pictured in 2001)
Kerry and her replacement Jenny were later embroiled in a public feud, yet on the documentary Jenny insisted she had no regrets.
‘I never felt bad for Kerry because she made a decision,’ Jenny stated. ‘She had chosen she wanted to be with Brian and have a baby so that was her path.
‘Maybe she regrets leaving the band, whether she admits it or not.’
Another band that had troubles with their lineup were the Sugababes.
Founding member Siobhán Donaghy was first replaced by Heidi Range, then Mutya replaced with Amelle Berrabah and finally Keisha Buchanan replaced by Jade Ewen.
The constant swapping and changing became a public joke, yet manager Darcus confirmed the girls were replaceable.
He stated: ‘It didn’t bother me that Sugababes had a revolving door becomes sometimes the brand is bigger than the individual.’
Yet it was Keisha’s exit that triggered the end of the band, as with all three founding members replaced, the group resembled a ‘tribute act’.
Keisha was the longest serving member of the band, yet Darcus explained that tensions arose when newest star Amelle was approached to collaborate with Tinchy Stryder on number one single Never Leave You.
The constant swapping and changing in the Sugababes became a public joke, yet their manager confirmed the girls were replaceable (original lineup Keisha Buchanan, Siobhan Donaghy and Mutya pictured in 2001)
Amelle said of the aftermath: ‘I felt I had to be careful with Keisha, our relationship wasn’t the same. I get it, they’d been there for years, maybe they thought it should’ve been them.’
Keisha left the band the following month, with Amelle remarking that she was replaced by Eurovision entrant Jade Ewen ‘uncomfortably quickly’.
‘If I was Keisha, it would have hurt me big time,’ she mused. ‘It never sat right with me, I felt an incredible amount of guilt.’
Infighting also sparked the end of All Saints.
Nicole and Natalie Appleton as well as Melanie were said to be ‘resentful’ of Shaznay Lewis, who made the most money out of the members as lead songwriter.
Melanie mused: ‘The friendship and business took its toll on us.
‘It was tricky, our communication wasn’t great, but when you look back a lot of things that were dramatic could have been so easily resolved. Hindsight is a right c***!
‘We split up because we didn’t like each other. We’d fallen out, it was hell, separate everything, it was ridiculous.
‘But one of the proudest moments of being in that band was calling it quits because we didn’t stay for the money.
‘We wanted to be done, we didn’t want to be together anymore and we made that decision, we were in control. We were supposed to go on tour, we had to give the money back, and I’m so proud of that.
‘It was one of the only decisions we were happy to make together, to tell each other to f**k off!’
Infighting sparked the end of All Saints (L-R Nicole Appleton, Shaznay Lewis, Natalie Appleton, Melanie Blatt in 1997)
As for Mis-Teeq, they had no say in the end of their group, with their record label going bust.
Su-Elise recalled: ‘We were owed a lot of money, it was a very stressful time, we couldn’t believe it.
‘We had the momentum of our success in the States behind us so we didn’t think it would be hard to move on and get another deal but apparently it was.’
Sabrina added: ‘It happened so quickly and then it was done.’
Alesha was offered a solo deal while Sabrina and Su-Elise were dropped.
This was at least a more gracious end to their careers than that of Eternal, who were told they had been dropped by their label via fax.
Kelle recalled: ‘I knew things weren’t perfect but at the bottom of it I just hoped that somebody could’ve told me.
‘That’s all I could have asked for, to be told, personally.’
Girlbands Forever is available to watch on iPlayer.
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