Singers from girlbands open up on pressures to abort and lack of support for mothers in new documentary

Image credit: Vanessa / Jonathan Borba via Unsplash

A new documentary that features several popular girl-bands, has members from these bands opening up about the pressures they were put under to have an abortion when they became pregnant, and of the lack of support they faced when they chose life for their baby. 

The BBC documentary, Girlbands Forever, which premiered on 1st November, comes after the success of last year’s BBCs documentary on boybands, and features several bands from the nineties and early noughties, including All Saints, Atomic Kitten, the Sugababes, Eternal, Miss-teeq and Little Mix. The documentary discusses the positives and challenges in regards to the experiences of these singers whilst in the midst of their girlband career. 

Amongst the challenges faced, All Saints star Melaine Blatt opened up about how she and her All Saints bandmate, Nicole Appleton, were pregnant at the same time, but both were pressured to have an abortion by their band managers; the reason being they did not want the band to lose momentum after reaching no.1 with their single Never Ever. 

“I hadn’t been with my partner for very long, it was definitely a bit of a surprise. It wasn’t people congratulating us. It was more like this look of dread and worry and the realisation that things are going to change,” she said. “We flew to LA and at [airport] LAX our manager, he was behind us, was telling us to abort our babies.”

Blatt also said that the managers told them that they were  “going to ruin everything” and “it was the end of the band”.

However, she did not go through with the abortion, and welcomed her first child with the bassist for band Jamiroquai, Stuart Zender. On the other hand, Appleton gave into the pressure and had an abortion. This sadly caused issues within the pair's friendship who had been best friends since they were 11.

“Nic and I had been best friends since we were 11. We took pregnancy tests in a hotel in Canada and spent that whole night discussing bringing our kids up together. It was one of the best nights ever.”

“And it’s not really my place to talk about it, but unfortunately . . . it was a very uncomfortable situation because I kept mine, she didn’t. That was a really tricky part of my and our existence.”

Nicole was pregnant with her then partner and singer Robbie Williams, with this part of their story being shared in Robbie William’s bio-pic, which was released last Christmas. He had reportedly told Appleton at the time of the pregnancy that “this baby is saving my life”.

Williams spoke about this experience after the release of his bio-pic calling Appleton “brave” for sharing this “traumatic” abortion experience, and calling it “insane” that she was made “to terminate a life because of being in a pop band.”

“She was made to have an abortion of our child. It’s rough and triggering. This thing about Nic is the most difficult bit of the film for me,” he said. 

Back in 2002, Appleton had opened up about how her abortion had impacted her in her autobiography and how speaking about it had helped her.. 

“I couldn’t believe what I had done. I wanted to kill myself,” she said, adding that “writing about it made me confront it all, and I’m so glad I did.”

The documentary also features Atomic Kitten star, Natasha Hamilton, also became pregnant with her first child whilst she was with the group, and admitted that she was "terrified" after she discovered her pregnancy out of fear she would be dropped from the band. She went on to welcome her son Josh in August 2002, with ex-boyfriend Fran Cosgrave, around the time the group released The Tide is High, their no.1 single. However, she lacked the support she needed to continue her singing career as she became a new mother. 

“It was decided that I would go back to work six weeks after having Josh,” she said. “I was really nervous because I ended up having an emergency C-section so I was coming off the back of recovering into my first show.”

“I just remember the foreboding feeling knowing I was going to do a show I was not ready to do.”

After being sent on a promotional tour in East Asia, Hamilton was diagnosed with post-partum depression. Her doctor gave her 12 months off work, but she was only given 2 weeks. 

“I just had this negative feed of thoughts about myself not being a good enough mum,” she said. “It was like torture. I hid it really well.”

“I was on stage and I was moving, there was nothing there. I couldn't wait to get off stage every night.”

This experience is what ultimately led to her ending her career with Atomic Kitten. Sugababes star, Mutya Buena also had a similar experience who left the band five months after the birth of her daughter Tahila in 2005, as reported by band manager, Darcus Beese, in the documentary, citing that there was not enough support for Buena after the birth of her daughter. 

“You want to be on the side of the artist but as the record label you’re never going to be.” he said.

Over the years, several celebrities have revealed the pressures they have been put under to abort their babies. Pussycat Doll star, Kaya Jones, shared about how she was pressured into having three abortions during her singing career. She also shared her testimony at the All Ireland Rally for Life in Dublin last year, sharing her regret and how the music industry were exploiting women.

Britney Spears has also opened up about her agony after she was pressured to abort her baby of then boyfriend Justin Timberlake, and her younger sister Jamie Lynn was also pressured by family to abort her daughter when she became pregnant at 16. Italian actress Ornella Muti and late Irish singer Sinead O’Connor also shared their experiences of being pressured into abortion. 

Sandra Parda of the Life Institute commented, saying: “Bravo to these brave women for speaking up once again about the horror of the music industry and their lack of respect for women and unborn children.”

“It’s sad that not only were these women facing pressure to abort, but those who chose life for their babies were not given the support they needed as they entered motherhood.”

“Becoming a mother is truly a gift and is something we should be celebrating, always being prepared to stand up and support a woman whenever she embraces motherhood.”