Singer Nadine Coyle has admitted that she and her Girls Aloud bandmates used to “make up stories” to keep their names in the press, a process she says she was not particularly comfortable with.
Nadine was a member of the girl group for 10 years, until their eventual split in 2013, during which time she and the rest of the band were never far away from the headlines.
However, during a new interview with The Sun’s Fabulous magazine, Nadine admits there’s a reason for this, as the band used to hold meetings specifically for coming up with stories to give to the press.
Despite noting her “conscious decision from the beginning” to not allow fame to “intrude on her privacy”, Nadine explained: “In the Girls Aloud days, we would have meetings where we would sit with a PR and make up stories [to feed to the press].
“I was always really uncomfortable with it – it felt like we were building a glass house. I don’t want to be in the newspapers or to feel like I have to manipulate things to make my life seem a way it’s not. I’m happy with how things are.
“My focus has always been on being a singer. It’s easy enough to keep it private.”
In the same interview, Nadine also admitted her regrets at turning down acting opportunities out of “loyalty” to the group.
She revealed: “Around the time that Girls Aloud was at its biggest, I was offered some huge acting roles in America. I decided to stay loyal to the band rather than take those other opportunities. Sometimes I wonder whether I should have just taken them.
“But I can’t get mad thinking about it – I just have to believe it wasn’t meant to be. I’m definitely not the type of person who can say I don’t regret anything, though, because I do.”
Girls Aloud eventually announced they were going their separate ways after the final performance on their Ten: The Hits tour,, a decision that not everyone in the band was happy about..
Nadine recalled in 2017, while speaking to the BBC: “I was in my robe and I’d got my hair and make-up on, and I was like, ‘What? Everybody wants to do that?’ And they said, ‘Yes, everybody’.
“I thought it was silly. Why would you want to do that? I thought everybody was tired because it was the end of the tour and they’d change their minds.
“Then they said, ‘We’re going to put out a statement’ – and it was a tweet. “I thought, ‘What? What?! We came back with a press conference, and you’re going to end 10 years with a tweet? Then remove my name completely from the whole thing. I do not agree with any of this’.”
“What d’you want us to say? She’s full of shit,” singer Cheryl Tweedy previously said in 2014, when asked about Nadine’s claims she didn’t want the band to split up. “She was the one who wanted to make a solo record. Which is why we took the hiatus.
“She wants to come out and say we broke the band up? No! She shouldn’t tell porkie pies. She should remember why we took the hiatus after seven years so she could go and…”
