Girls Aloud star Kimberley Walsh always prided herself on her strong resilience that helped her cope with the wild ups and downs of being in a huge noughties girlband.
But nothing prepared her for how to deal with the unexpected loss of her bandmate Sarah Harding to breast cancer five years ago.
The November-born singers were due to celebrate their 40th birthdays just days apart from each other – but sadly Sarah passed away in 2021 before she could reach the milestone.
“Losing Sarah was horrendous. It massively changed me,” the mother-of-three tells Ateh Jewel in this week’s Second Act podcast.
“Initially it gave me some major health anxieties, which my doctor friends said was totally normal.
“I’ve got kids, oh God, I have to live. I have to try to look after myself as best I can.
“It has changed how I feel about growing old,” says the 44-year-old. “You have to make the most of every day. I see every single birthday as a massive privilege that I still get to be here. Me and Sarah were the same age. Literally three days apart. And she didn’t make it, obviously, to her 40th. Every birthday hits hard for me.”
The one silver lining from losing Sarah, was reuniting with her bandmates, Cheryl, Nicola Roberts and Nadine Coyle.
“We’re the closest we’ve been since we were in the throngs of living and breathing every second of each other’s life. They are the few people in my life that have seen all my changes other than my siblings and Justin. It’s lovely.”
Kimberley met husband, former boyband star Justin Scott in the early days of her fame and became step-mum to his daughter Chloe at just 23.
“The fact we were able to navigate that and grow together it’s my greatest achievement. It’s wild to think we met so young.
“We have three boys and Chloe is now 27. I am so lucky. She’s my bonus baby, we are like best friends.”
Having switched careers between singing, acting and presenting for Morning Live, Kimberley is now in her businesswoman era launching a new three-step range of beauty products with Pure Tone Aesthetics.
“We wouldn’t take our make-up properly after gigs. Now one of the main conversations is how we look, everyone feels like they need to be doing more.
“A lot of the routines are 10 to 12 steps. I have three kids, there’s not a chance I am ever going to commit.
“I thought I’d love to try and create something science backed and will actually work, where we can feel like we look the best we possibly can, and is also achievable. That’s what excited me.
“We can’t really turn the clock back. What we can do is be kind to ourselves.”
Kimberley Walsh x Pure Tone Aesthetics is available exclusively at puretoneaesthetics.com. HELLO! readers can receive 20% off with code HELLO20
Listen to the Second Act podcast, now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts and Youtube.