Supporty Spice: Melanie Chisholm on why she's loving her new-found woman power
Motherhood has not only helped former Sporty Spice Melanie Chisholm to beat the eating disorder that cast a shadow over her rise to fame; it has also given her the confidence to pursue her stage ambitions. As she tells Liz Jones, she needs to prove to herself – and to her young daughter Scarlet – that she’s more than just a part of pop history
'Having my little girl has made me quite relaxed about my physical self,' says Melanie
When I last met Melanie Chisholm, in 2003, she drove a very sexy Mercedes soft-top. This was the only indication that she was fabulously wealthy. Then, she had made £22.5 million. Now, she is even more wealthy, the coffers having been boosted considerably by earnings from the Spice Girls’ reunion tour in 2007. But Melanie C, former Sporty Spice, is as unspoilt as she ever was. At our photo shoot today in North London, she is rifling through the rail of expensive dresses, saying she has never owned anything this lovely, never even tried on a Roland Mouret before.
But, she says, just before the reunion tour, she splashed out. A new mansion, perhaps? A yacht, maybe? ‘No, a bag. I spent £1,000 on a new handbag to treat myself. I thought, “I’m going to work really, really hard, I’m going to make
a few quid and I’m going to have that bag.” I’ll never spend that
much on a bag again.’
This is Melanie all over: she seems not to have strayed too far from her working-class roots. ‘My family don’t seem to think I’m down to earth!’ she laughs. She tells me she had her eye on the Burberry biker jacket, the one that costs almost £4,000, but it was attached to the rail in the shop (probably to prevent it being stolen), and she was too embarrassed to ask someone to come along and unlock it.
Melanie still lives in the big apartment in Hampstead that has been her home for more than a decade. Her decision that she doesn’t need a mansion, and she certainly doesn’t need that Burberry jacket all that much, tells me she didn’t agree to get back together with the other four girls just for the money. She had, in fact, been the most reluctant of them all. ‘I think I’d just got over the first time and I thought, “Do I really want to go back?” For me, it was lots of emotions from that time that I was frightened might return, but they didn’t. It was quite cathartic. We had a great time. The first time round it was so chaotic and so exhausting it was just like, “What will get me through the day?” Whereas this last time, we had time to reflect.’
From left: Melanie with her fellow Spice Girls in 2009; with partner Tom Starr last November
From left: Playing mum to Scarlet last September; in a Victoria Beckham gown at last year’s Olivier Awards
Melanie, now an almost impossible to believe 37, grew up on the outskirts of Liverpool; her mother Joan (her parents divorced when she was three; her half-brother Paul, 31, is a racing driver, and her two youngest half-brothers are teenagers) had been in bands since the age of 14, and it was inevitable that her daughter would inherit the bug. Melanie started performing seriously aged eight, and trained for three years at a performing arts college, emerging with a qualification to teach ballet. When she got the part last year in the stage musical Blood Brothers – a part she had to audition for, and which earned her acting honours, including being shortlisted for the Milton Shulman Award for Outstanding Newcomer, and best newcomer in the Laurence Olivier Awards – she seemed most pleased that her parents were there in the audience, along with the Spice Girls and their various partners, of course.
‘It was a leap of faith to do it,’ she says. ‘Having my daughter, Scarlet, who was then seven months old, made me feel really courageous, and there’s a part of me that feels that now I’ve got this wonderful person in my life I just want her to be proud of me, so it made me be more brave. And I’ve always wanted to do musical theatre and have the chance to work in the West End.’
When we meet, Melanie is about to appear in the 80th birthday celebration concert for Mikhail Gorbachev, at the Royal Albert Hall. She was excited to be performing with an orchestra, singing ‘I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself’, and ‘Ain’t Got No/I Got Life’ from the musical Hair, as made famous by Nina Simone. Half the proceeds were earmarked for Gorbachev’s own charitable trust, with the other half going to the Macmillan charity, which, as well as providing nurses, gives help and advice to those suffering from cancer.
‘My dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year,’ Melanie says, her big eyes blinking, trying to keep her emotions in check. ‘It was harrowing for us, such a scary, scary time. It was my little girl’s first birthday… But he had an operation and radiotherapy, and has completely recovered. A lot of men put off going to the doctor, and are in denial, which is terrible because it’s really important to catch it early. I know there are a lot of people campaigning for awareness of this type of cancer, and I’m trying to get support, too.’
Her father, Alan, works in the tourism industry, and organises travel for Liverpool football club, which he and his daughter both support. Melanie saw him just the day before our meeting, back home in Liverpool, to help him celebrate his birthday, watching Liverpool beat Manchester United. What did she get him? ‘A tie and a nice top. We went out for lunch, had a bit of a weekend.’
Despite the blip with her dad, I wonder if she feels too lucky: huge success with the Spice Girls, a solo career (four albums to date; over three million album sales, two number-one singles, six top 10 singles and more than 200 combined weeks on the UK chart), a man she loves (Tom Starr, the director of a Hertfordshire-based construction firm: ‘He’s a confident man, strong, successful in his work’), and now Scarlet, born in February 2009. Is she always wondering when it will end, when the universe will collect its payment?
‘There have been times in my career which haven’t gone how I would have liked them to go, and I’m always striving to better myself. But no. I don’t think it’ll all end tomorrow.’
Does she ever think she and Tom will get married? ‘Having Scarlet has made us stronger, to share such a wonderful thing. But no, marriage is not on the cards. We’re just happy the way we are. We’ve been happily together for nine years, and it’s a superstitious thing – if we marry, will it change? We’re cool.’
During our shoot, she strips unselfconsciously down to her knickers (her body is liberally scattered with tattoos). I have to say she is in great shape, but not the skinny-torsoed, muscly-armed Spice Girl we knew and loved, dressed in Adidas tracksuit bottoms and a vest top.
‘Victoria lent me two gorgeous gowns for the Olivier Awards – they made me feel amazing’
I remind her that when we last met, she had only just begun to conquer an eating disorder, and a compulsion to exercise. When she joined the band in 1996, aged 22, she started a cycle of self-destruction and self-hatred that she only started to get a grip on as she approached 30: six-mile runs, three-and-a-half hours in the gym, and a starvation diet. ‘I did that from before the Spice Girls released a record, until I went off to make my own record. Sometimes I ate fruit, nothing else, all day long,’ Mel told me during our first interview. ‘My overriding memory is that I was always hungry.’
How is she now about all these issues?
‘It used to keep me awake at night if I’d eaten something I shouldn’t have. I used to think that if anyone found out I would be mortified. Now I’ve come to terms with my problems and conquered them, I can talk about it. I feel, after Scarlet, that I am completely cured of that. You never know what’s around the corner, but I feel I have a very healthy attitude towards food and exercise and beauty and I haven’t had Botox or anything. I’m not saying I won’t in the future, but having my little girl has made me really quite relaxed about my physical self because she’s just mellowed me.’
And how will she ensure she won’t pass on her neuroses to her daughter? ‘All children, especially girls, are so much more body aware at a younger age, sexually aware at a younger age, so I think all mums are quite concerned about that. Personally for me, the problems that I had, it was a moment in my life. I did go to the gym after having Scarlet – I had an emergency caesarean section, which meant it took longer for me to recover – but when I got there, I thought, “I’m too tired!” With a toddler, you never get to sit down!’
She is much more glamorous than she was in the Spice Girls days: her hair is long and wavy, not pulled back in a ponytail. Although today she is in skinny jeans and a soft black biker jacket, she says she will occasionally dress up. ‘When I was up for the Olivier Award, I called Victoria and asked if I could borrow one of her designs,’ she says. ‘She sent these gorgeous gowns over right away. I wore two that night: one for performing, and one for the ceremony, and they made me feel amazing, really pulled me in in all the right places. Victoria has broken down a lot of barriers to get where she has in fashion, to earn respect, and she works really hard.’
Does Melanie (she hates to be called Mel) still have the single gal’s Mercedes? ‘I now drive a far more practical Lexus 4x4. It comes with the baby territory,’ she says wryly. ‘It’s a hybrid, so I’m doing my bit for the environment.’
We talk about her new album, due out in the autumn, and lots of other live dates besides. In the Spice Girls, Melanie was easily the hardest working. ‘I used to drive the other girls mad with my, “Come on, we need to rehearse, we need to get it right”, when they just wanted to sit in their hotel room and chat to their boyfriends.’
What on earth drives her? ‘I think performing is my love, and if it wasn’t in my life, I feel there would be a part missing. I’m a shy person, and sometimes I might not always say what I think, but I’m more straight-talking now. I don’t want to waste time and talk around things, because I want things to be how I want them to be.’
The early days: The Spice Girls at the Brit Awards in 1998
She becomes very animated when she talks about the upcoming Spice Girls musical, Viva Forever, produced by Judy Craymer, who gave us Mamma Mia!. ‘It’d be wonderful to have a successful stage show, pick up on Broadway, go international and become a movie…’
I don’t think this lady will be slowing down any time soon. We get up to leave, and Melanie shows me photos of Scarlet on her phone. She is gorgeous, and very smiley. Is Scarlet like her mum? ‘She is a determined little thing,’ says Melanie. ‘She likes to do something and she’ll set herself a task, make sure she does it. Something I’ve always done. She really loves ballet, too.’
Does her daughter realise her mum is so famous? ‘For her, it’s just normal. But I suppose I’m part of history. I’ll be able to show my children – I really want her to have siblings – the cover of Rolling Stone and say, “Look, that was Mummy!”’
The crew from the shoot are looking at the photos from the day. I shout across the studio to Melanie, telling her she looks gorgeous. She looks doubtful: ‘I bet I look a mess, but then someone will Photoshop me and I’ll end up looking like a model!’
‘We wanted to avoid her looking too “girl next door”,’ someone says, and I hope to goodness Melanie, already on her BlackBerry and out of the door, back to her lovely life, doesn’t hear. But I think ‘girl next door’ is a wonderful thing to be, particularly as this girl, who admitted she was not the prettiest of the Spice Girls, has done good.
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