Emma Bunton doesn't think she would have "dealt" well with being a teenage Spice Girl in the age of social media.
Baby Spice was just 19 when the girl group formed and she has opened up about how "frightened" she was the first time someone got a camera phone out to take a picture of her at a nightclub.
The 44-year-old singer admitted it would be "completely different" if she and the 'Viva Forever' group - which is also comprised of Geri Horner, Mel B, Victoria Beckham and Melanie C - were starting out today, because of the scrutiny stars face on sites like Twitter and Instagram.
Speaking on a Vodafone-sponsored episode of Clemmie Telford’s 'Honestly' podcast, Emma admitted: “Being a Spice Girl then and now would have been completely different.
“I was just 19 when it [the band] started and I don’t know how I would have dealt with the social media and the pictures back then. I remember the first time I was out with friends in a club and I saw someone with a camera phone and they took a picture of me and I thought ‘oh my goodness, that’s it now, that’s privacy done and there’s no boundaries’ - it frightened me. In the celebrity world of course you put yourself out there but there’s those moments where you’d like to have time with your friends and not have someone being intrusive, but that went in that moment.”
Emma also admitted she hopes their fans are "taking in" their shows now that they watch behind their cell phones.
She said: “Our first [Spice Girls] tour was incredible and I remember looking out and seeing faces and now you look out and just see phones. I think that ‘I really hope you’re taking it in’."
Emma's comments about social media mirror those of her bandmate, Sporty Spice, who previously admitted that while they made numerous mistakes during the time, she's glad it wasn't all documented online.
Melanie C said: "We were young and we were going out, we were having fun and we were making mistakes and it was not documented.
"Of course, we had to deal with paparazzi but I just feel for young artists these days, because they are so exposed, there's nowhere to hide anymore."
The 47-year-old star added: "When you're young sometimes you do silly things and you don't want the world to know about it!”
'DIGITAL PARENTING: An Honest Conversation with Emma Bunton and DAUK’ is available to listen to now on Apple Podcasts.
