I was in the Pussycat Dolls – I was never given a chance, it was a very painful experience

MELODY THORNTON has lashed out at her former Pussycat Dolls bandmates by describing her time in the group as painful because she was “never given a chance”.

The Don’t Cha singer, who left the girl group in 2010, famously clashed with frontwoman Nicole Scherzinger and has now said she felt undervalued.

In an exclusive chat, Melody said: “It has been a long battle to prove I am a singer first and foremost.

“I have had to do a lot of work and campaigning to undo a lot of false beliefs.

“I was just a back-up  dancer. It was very painful for me. It was a big opportunity to show what I could do and I was never given that chance really.

“In order to carry on singing, people need to know that you can sing in the first place and that wasn’t really the case for me in the group, so it was ­actually very painful.

“It can be hard to be a singer if no one knows you can sing. You need a record deal to continue but if you’re not considered, what can you do?”

Now she is proving her vocal talents by playing Whitney Houston’s role of Rachel in a UK tour of The Bodyguard – years after the singing icon helped her to carry on.

She recalled: “I used to imagine Whitney and Michael Jackson were in the audience for every Dolls performance because I wasn’t a dancer, so I had to come up with some reason to keep going and give it my all.”    

Clearly there is no love lost with her other former bandmates including Kimberly Wyatt and Ashley ­Roberts either.

  Arizona-born Mel added: “None of the girls have been [to see the show] and I wouldn’t expect them to.

“I didn’t regret my decision to quit the group and not to go back.

“I have to take jobs to undo all the preconceived notions that I’m just a backing dancer.”