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Mel C (actual title Melanie Chrisholm) revealed she was sexually assaulted the night time earlier than her first reside efficiency with the Spice Women. The 48-year-old singer, referred to as Sporty Spice within the well-known woman group, wrote in regards to the harrowing incident in her new memoir The Sporty One: My Life as a Spice Woman, and went into extra element on Tuesday’s (September 13) episode of the Learn how to Fail podcast. “What occurred to me, I sort of buried instantly,” she defined throughout this system. “And since I didn’t cope with it on the time, I notice that I allowed that to be buried for years and years and years.”
The British pop star stated the assault befell in Istanbul in 1997, simply because the Spice Women have been making ready for his or her first live performance in entrance of a reside viewers. To deal with herself, Mel C, who was 23 on the time, booked a therapeutic massage with a male masseur on the eve of the gig. “It occurred to me on the night time earlier than the primary ever Spice Women reside efficiency,” Mel C stated on the podcast. “And we’d by no means executed a full-length live performance earlier than, so, clearly, we’d rehearsed for weeks forward — costume fittings, make-up, hair — the whole lot was main in the direction of the head of the whole lot I’d ever wished to do and ever wished to be.”
“And what drives me is being onstage, being a performer, so right here we have been the eve of the primary ever Spice Women present, so I deal with myself to a therapeutic massage within the resort. And what occurred to me, I sort of buried instantly, as a result of there was different issues to concentrate on. You realize, I didn’t need to make a fuss, but in addition I didn’t have time to cope with it.”
The choice to maintain the assault confidential stayed along with her till she started engaged on the brand new memoir. “It got here to me in a dream, or I sort of awoke and it was in my thoughts,” Mel C defined on the podcast. “And I used to be like, ‘Oh my gosh, I haven’t even considered having that within the e-book.’ Then, after all, I needed to suppose, ‘Nicely, do I need to reveal this?’ And I simply thought, really, it’s actually vital for me to say it, and to lastly cope with it and course of it.”
Whereas she didn’t go into particulars of the assault, she added, “I suppose, in a model of sexual assault, it’s a gentle model, however I felt violated. I felt very susceptible. I felt embarrassed. After which I felt uncertain — have I obtained this proper? What’s occurring? I used to be in an surroundings the place you are taking your garments off with this skilled individual. So there have been so many ideas and emotions, and I simply felt, you understand what, I do need to discuss it as a result of it has affected me. However I’d buried it, and I’m certain a lot of women and men do.”
Mel C’s new memoir The Sporty One: My Life as a Spice Woman shall be launched on September 27.
