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BEAUTIFUL SOUL
Paul and I fell in love on sunset drives in LA, it was amazing and he was so handsome, says S Club 7’s Hannah Spearritt
S CLUB 7 star Hannah Spearritt only realised she had fallen in love with Paul Cattermole after years of them being friends and bandmates.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun after Paul’s tragic death earlier this month, she told how they met as child performers and later shared a flat together.
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But it was only when the group travelled to film in America that she realised it was much more than a friendship.
Sharing pictures of their journey from teen wannabes to chart-topping stars, heartbroken Hannah recalled: “We had all gone away, a big group of us skiing, and I started to feel a little bit jealous if Paul was flirting with anyone else.
“We had a bit of a drunken snog one night and then when we got back to LA it just kind of developed.
“We would go out on long drives together at night, up into the hills to watch the sun set.
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"There was about a six-month period of us sneaking around.
"We were going to each other’s apartments and would stay over, but sneak out in the morning.”
Paul and Hannah first met as teenagers at the National Youth Music Theatre in London, but it was not love at first sight.
In fact, it was another future star who first spotted talented singer Paul.
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In those early days, aspiring actress Sheridan Smith was quick to notice Paul’s pop hunk status.
Hannah, 42, recalled: “Everyone loved Paul.
"He was one of those people that everyone was drawn to because he just exuded vibrancy.
“I’m sure she won’t mind me sharing this, but it was my friend Sheridan Smith who first noticed Paul and said how good-looking he was.”
Yesterday Hannah broke her silence to tell The Sun on Sunday that she was “devastated” over Paul’s sudden death at the age of 46, and was still struggling to “believe it’s real”.
She last saw him without the other band members during a “heart-to-heart” meeting organised by Hannah’s management to see if the ex-lovers would be comfortable working together on the band’s forthcoming 25th anniversary tour.
Since his body was found at his Dorset home on April 6, she has found solace in family life with her partner Adam Thomas, 42, and their children Taya, four, and two-year- old Tora.
But sometimes, she admits, the grief can be overwhelming.
Her earliest memory of her ex is when they were cast in the musical Pendragon together when Hannah was just 13.
She said: “The first time I ever met Paul was when we started rehearsing.
“I remember how loud he was. He had this larger-than-life personality, confidence, charisma, and he was always laughing.
“There was a group of us that would all hang out, and these friendships just kind of developed.”
It was years later before Hannah and Paul were both asked to join S Club 7, a new group being put together by former Spice Girls manager .
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Hannah auditioned for her spot, but Paul was head-hunted after the band’s management saw him performing in a show.
They moved into a flat together in East Finchley, North London, and focused on making the band a success.
Hannah said: “When we were first put together, part of our job was to see if we got along.
"We were like, ‘But we know each other!’ It sounds crazy but part of our day-to-day lives was to just hang out.
“It was during that time Paul and I decided to rent a flat together.
“There was no romance, we were just friends.”
And their modest home was no love-nest.
A former corner shop converted into a basic two-bed flat, it cost them just £70 a week each.
Hannah recalled: “You went straight in and you were in the living room, then there was a little galley kitchen and two bedrooms.
“There would always be cheese in the fridge. Paul loved his cheese.
“I guess it was quite a big step moving in together but it just seemed to make sense.
“Things never turned romantic while we were in that flat.
"We were in the band and had to be in London every day and just got to know each other really, really well.”
Then in 1999 the band moved to America to film their hit TV sitcom Miami 7.
Hannah recalled: “We were all living in these separate apartments in LA. Paul wasn’t looking after himself very well so I cooked him a meal and took it over.
“I don’t remember what it was but it would have involved cheese. He really needed that meal.
“From then on we just started hanging out more in the evenings after work. We’d watch movies together.
"But it took a really long time before things turned romantic.
“He used to call me his cheeky monkey. If I was sunbathing by the side of the pool he’d come along and throw me in.
"He was always picking me up and running off with me somewhere.”
After months of “sneaking around”, the couple decided they had to come clean with bandmates Rachel Stevens, Jon Lee, Tina Barrett, Bradley McIntosh and Jo O’Meara.
Hannah says: “Their reaction was, ‘Yeah, we knew something was happening’.
“But they were all really happy for us. Then we broke it to the management team.”
Hannah was worried because Paul was the band’s big heart-throb, and she thought the record company might fear the fans’ reaction to him being spoken for.
She continued: “But they got used to the idea, I think because it was in-house.
"And then they wrote it [the couple’s relationship] into the TV show.”
As the band’s success soared, with hits such as Bring It All Back and Never Had A Dream Come True, Hannah and Paul found themselves on cloud nine.
Hannah said: “The whole thing was honeymoon-like.
"We were loving life, we were young and we had an amazing lifestyle.
“I don’t remember a day when I felt bad. Life was really, really good.
"It was fun from the get-go, it was one long honeymoon period.
“Throughout the whole of S Club right up until the end it was pretty rosy.
"We were working long hours, so we’d always find a quiet corner to snuggle up together.
“When we were on set in LA, they had great catering.
"He’d go and get me breakfast — he knew how I liked my eggs done.
“He’d look after me. And I would buy him lots of cheese — all the cheeses. He loved blue cheese.
“He also loved to play his guitar for me. He’d just pick up his guitar in the moment, and make up songs and sing to me.”
But slowly Paul began to struggle with the fame that came with S Club 7.
Hannah said: “In America there wasn’t much of an issue.
“We didn’t feel the fame there, but when we were back home it was a lot more intense.
“Paul was becoming increasingly unhappy. He was getting to that point where he was thinking, ‘This isn’t for me any more’.
"But it didn’t cause rifts in our relationship.
“I was completely supportive and just wanted him to be happy.
“He never really dreamed of being famous. He didn’t love pop music, he had passion for different music.
"But when these opportunities come, they’re difficult to turn down.”
In 2002 Paul quit the band, which made it harder to keep the couple’s relationship going.
Hannah added: “We carried on without him but I think maybe it did make our personal lives a little bit more difficult as we weren’t seeing each other as much.
"When we were in S Club, everything was micro-managed.
"We didn’t have to think about anything — then Paul was not in that set-up any more.
“He was having to ease back into normal life.
“We’d bought our first house together in Crouch End, North London, and I ended up buying a second place in Brighton.
“We spent quite a lot of time down there, which we loved.
“We never spoke about marriage. Marriage was never something I’d dreamed of and I don’t think it was Paul’s thing either.
“We were just too young to even think about having children.”
The band split up in 2003 and Paul and Hannah finally called time on their relationship in 2006.
Hannah said: “When we came out of the band, the cracks started to appear.
"There were never any arguments, which was probably the problem, but we were quite different characters.
"We just ended up wanting different things.
“I knew I wanted a break from the limelight but I also knew where I wanted to go by embarking on the acting side of things.
"And that’s when I got [ITV series] Primeval.”
The couple went their separate ways until they were thrown back together in 2015 for an S Club 7 reunion and they briefly rekindled their romance before breaking up again.
Hannah said: “We’d not seen each other in years.
"But when the band got back together in 2015, I think it was that first-love thing.
“We had so much history and fondness for each other.
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“We made each other laugh a lot. You feel young again, I guess.
“You want to remember somebody for what they were when you first fell in love with them — but it still wasn’t meant to be.”
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