Mel C has revealed that she was sexually assaulted before her first Spice Girls show.
While appearing on the latest episode of the How To Fail podcast with Elizabeth Day, the 48-year-old pop star star, full name Melanie Chisholm, shared details from her new book, Who I Am: My Story.
Mel, also known as Sporty Spice, joined in the 1990s mega girl group when she was 20.
In the interview she revealed that on the night of her first performance in Istanbul, Turkey, she was sexually assaulted.
“It happened to me on the night before the first-ever Spice Girls live performance,” she recalled. “We were in Istanbul, we did two shows over there, and we’d never done a full-length concert before, so obviously we’d rehearsed for weeks ahead, costume fittings, make-up, hair, everything was leading towards the pinnacle of everything I’d ever wanted to do and ever wanted to be.”
She continued that the assault occurred during a massage at the hotel where she was staying.
“What drives me is being onstage, being a performer, so here we were the eve of the first-ever Spice Girls show, so I treat myself to a massage in the hotel,” Mel said. “And what happened to me I kind of buried immediately because there was other things to focus on. I didn’t want to make a fuss, but also I didn’t have time to deal with it.”
She added: “Because I didn’t deal with it at the time, I realise that I allowed that to be buried for years and years and years.”
