Claire on ache of Steps break up ‘One easy factor made it a lot worse’
Sunday Brunch: Claire Richards reveals what she did earlier than Steps
Behind the tacky smiles, dance routines and peppy pop lurked a world of ache that had followers gawping in shock when it was revealed.
Steps had been launched in 2007 and after staggering success break up in 2001. Ten years later all their soiled linen was very publicly aired in a 2011 four-part documentary Steps: Reunion.
More than a decade of anger, betrayal and resentments poured out, however in a strong new podcast, Claire has mentioned it did not should be that manner.
She opened up about her personal private agonies and described the ultimate unique years with the band as being like trapped within the jungle in I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.
She additionally identified what all of us so simply neglect about her time within the band.
Read extra… Claire Richards shares Steps audition moment that sparked eating disorder battle [LATEST]
Steps of their 1998 heyday (Image: GETTY)
Claire was speaking on Vicky Pattison’s The Secret To… podcast and reminded everybody of how younger she had been when it began.
Straight out of college, she was 17 when she was scouted for her first girlband TSD in 1995. Two years later she was in Steps and all of a sudden an prompt pop star.
She mentioned: “I didn’t know who I was. I didn’t know how to be an adult. I was only 23-24 when the band split. I lived with my mum and dad still. My mum did my washing. I didn’t even know how to pay a bill.”
Steps reunited in 2018 (Image: GETTY)
Steps introduced prompt fame and (finally) some fortune, Claire says, from the discharge of the 1998 single One For Sorrow onwards. But, as we’re all more and more conscious, the lifetime of pop stars, particularly manufactured ones, may be punishing.
She mentioned: “You feel like you don’t have a choice, we went and did whatever we were told do. I think that’s why so many bands go. ‘I can’t do it anymore.'”
Relentless recording, appearances, promotional duties and touring rapidly took their toll: “We’d normally have Christmas off but we were constantly (working)… And you’re often living in a tour bus which is a small space. It was very intense.”
Claire mentioned it is pure tensions would construct: “You know when you’re in somewhere like the [I’m a Celebrity] Jungle or Big Brother, everything is exacerbated to such a massive thing because you can’t get away from it. It can be the most stupid thing but you get so wound up by it. That’s what it was like…
“When you spend that period of time with folks… Your household get in your nerves typically… Sometimes in case you are feeling quieter and somebody is being further, you possibly can’t step away from it as a result of you’ve gotten a day full of labor…
“I think the reason why H and I left in the end, was a build-up of all that.”
Claire Richards and Ian H Watkins attend the Attitude Pride Awards 2023 (Image: GETTY)
We now know that the break up was ugly, with the group dividing into two bitterly divided facet, H and Claire on one and Faye, Lisa and Lee on the opposite.
Looking again, Claire thinks it may have been very completely different: “If we’d had a break it might not have been as bad as it was when we split.”
Instead, the rapidly launched H and Claire was a bitter disappointment: “H and Claire ended disastrously. We had three top 10 singles but then the album didn’t really chart very high. I was traumatised by that. I was so embarrassed… I thought everyone would be applauding because, It serves them right.'”
Steps at Mighty Hoopla 2022 (Image: GETTY )
Claire added: “The last lot of stuff we had to do, I just said ‘I’m not doing it. I can’t. I’m too embarrassed.’ After that, I kind of went into hiding, I suppose, and just didn’t do anything for years.
“I didn’t do something till I used to be pregnant with my son, and I used to be almost 30. For a very good 5 or 6 years I did nothing in any respect. I didn’t sing for ten years after. It was a bizarre previous time.
“After the wedding and everything, I remember sitting down and being like ‘Oh, I don’t know what to do with myself’. And I probably just sat on the sofa for a couple of years. It took me a long time to work out who I was going to be, where I fit in the world.”