Spice Girls star Mel C reveals she quit hit girl band’s reunion tour to focus on her seven-year-old daughter Scarlet and sets the record straight on Mel B row
VICTORIA, GERI, MEL B, EMMA and MEL C were the biggest pop stars of the Nineties.
Five became four when I revealed plans for their 20th anniversary reunion without Victoria Beckham.
Then, in a shock blow, I told how Melanie had bowed out in April after months of discussions.
Until now there has been a lot of speculation about fallouts and feuds related to the group’s comeback.
Today — and for the first time as a solo artist — Melanie has taken the helm of my Bizarre to set the record straight once and for all.
Revealing the real reason behind her decision to leave, she said it ultimately came down to her being a good mum to her seven-year-old daughter Scarlet.
Sitting down with me at Bizarre HQ, she explained: “The thing I’ve learned is to say ‘No’ more because, by nature, I’m a people pleaser.
“I had to think about myself and the most important thing in my life, which is being a mother to my little girl. I had to be present for her.
“It was a hard decision, not only letting down the girls but all the fans who want it to happen.
“But we’re four individuals, we’ve gone on to have separate lives and careers and want different things.
“We always said we had to be comfortable but lots of people were getting involved and I wasn’t comfortable with the direction that it was taking.”
Soon after she quit, Melanie was branded a “b**ch” by Mel B during a rant on JAMES CORDEN’s The Late Late Show.
Now she says their complicated past, in which Scary revealed there had been a few punch-ups between the pair, is all water under the bridge — despite Mel B unfollowing her on Twitter and them not having spoken since.
Melanie said: “Things were tough between me and Mel. The unfollowing thing, I know Mel and she’s hot-headed.
“I’d never done anything to upset her specifically, so I don’t know why she did it.
“But we’ve built bridges and we’re absolutely fine and friends.
“And she’s apologised to me for anything that happened way back 20 years ago.”
While Geri Horner, Emma Bunton and Mel B have been masterminding their reunion, Melanie has been putting the finishing touches to her stunning seventh studio album, Version of Me, which is out on Friday.
And she insists that no matter what happens, she will forever consider her bandmates to be like sisters.
She said: “Over the years we’ve all had different relationships with each other, that’s being mates, isn’t it?
“Of course we’ve had our ups and downs, we’ve been through stuff, some of which have been hugely high-pressure situations.
“We’ve watched each other’s children grow up and we know each other’s parents and siblings.
“Sometimes I’m not very happy with the way some of them behave but if any of them ever needed me I’m there for them and they’re there for me.”
Well, they said it themselves — friendship never ends.
Starstruck Adele says Hello
ADELE has already offered to join the Spice Girls on their anniversary tour.
And it would clearly be a dream for the superstar superfan, who befriended Melanie at a COLDPLAY gig.
Melanie revealed: “I’m a huge Adele fan. I’ve met her a couple of times and she’s been so lovely, so sweet. She was emotional the first time she met me.
“She was in the box next to me at the Royal Albert Hall and was going, ‘Oh my God, oh my God’. She was just so super excited.
“The next time I met her she came over and apologised, saying she was overwhelmed and had just wanted to say she was a massive fan and that my record Northern Star was really important to her.
“Then I was like, ‘Oh my God’. It’s such a wonderful time to be a Spice Girl because all these incredible artists like ELLIE GOULDING and LADY GAGA have admitted being Spice fans.
“It’s so nice to hear we inspired them in a small way.”
— MELANIE swapped the Spice Bus for The Sun Bus as she dropped into Bizarre HQ to take over and tell all about her new album Version of Me and the SPICE GIRLS reunion.
Bend it like Brooklyn
IT has been a week since Geri Horner announced she was pregnant with her second child.
But despite all of her messages of congratulations, her pal Melanie is peeved at the focus on Ginger Spice’s age.
She said: “All this fuss that was made over her being 44 really p***es me off.
“I’m completely aware that as you get older your fertility drops and it’s harder to get pregnant, but she’s a healthy woman and yeah, I thought that was quite rude.”
Melanie, mum to seven-year-old daughter Scarlet Starr, who she had with former boyfriend Thomas Starr, added: “I currently don’t have any of those kinds of plans on the horizon.
“I’m obviously very focused on this record and looking after the little monkey I’ve got already, but who knows what the future holds.”
Two fellow parents she does admire are DAVID and Victoria Beckham.
But she still can’t get over their teenage son BROOKLYN who was born when the group were first together, or their musical son CRUZ.
She said: “It’s so weird for me to see because I remember when he was a little boy, and he’s grown into such a gorgeous boy, and he’s a really talented photographer.
“Cruzy is such a little superstar. Because he’s got his older brothers, he’s always been really streetwise and cool, and they are really, really lovely children.
“People have talked about the parenting skills of Victoria and David. They’re fantastic parents and have brought up fantastic children.”
With nearly enough for a football team, that’s just as well.
— MELANIE C’s incredible new album Version of Me packs more flavour than all five spices combined.
I couldn’t wait to sit down and chat to her all about it in a Q&A on . You can watch it back now.
Grab your copy of the album when it hits shelves on Friday.
It's Gobby Williams
ROBBIE WILLIAMS’ playboy past should come as a surprise to no one.
But his wife AYDA FIELD’s claim on TV’s Loose Women that he had slept with four of the five Spice Girls has left Melanie scratching her head.
Describing her fling with the TAKE THAT star as “so brief you’d blink and miss it”, she added: “The thing with myself and Robbie is we’ve had a very similar experience so there’s a bit of a kinship there, but this is something I know nothing about.
“I haven’t seen Robbie or his wife since that claim but our paths do cross occasionally. I’ll be quizzing them on that.”
— MELANIE declared her love for LITTLE MIX after claims she called them too provocative. She said: “I’ve had quite a lot of hate on Twitter. I’m a big fan of Little Mix and will always support them.”
— SPORTY SPICE has been living up to her nickname. She said: “In 2011 I did my first triathlon. This year I’ve done three. I got my personal best at London and was top woman in my age group.”
Top Right Now
- SPICE UP YOUR LIFE: When we performed this at the 2012 Olympics it was one of my ultimate Spice Girls moments. Being on top of those black cabs after watching all the excitement build – it was just the most incredible night.
- TOO MUCH: I’m such a ballad lover. This was our second Christmas No1 and it was in our movie, Spice World.
I remember writing the song with Geri on the set, right in the midst of all the mayhem, hence the title.
19Sad goodbye . . . Christmas no1 for the band after Geri Horner exit - GOODBYE: Another Christmas No1 and it is so emotional for me. It truly is about Geri going and that was a very sad time for the Spice Girls. To quote myself, things were never to be the same again. It brought tears to my eyes night after night.
- WANNABE: The song that launched us on to the world.
As soon as we heard it after it had been produced – because it had changed a lot – we were like, “That is bonkers. It’s either going to work or not”.
Thank God it did.
