Mel C secretly battled eating disorders and depression at the height of her fame with the Spice Girls.
In an interview with DailyMail.com to promote her upcoming memoir, Who I Am, Mel C revealed that she was “quite unwell” while she was a member of the hugely popular girl band.
“When I look back, I don’t know physically how I did it; when you consider how little I lived on and how much exercise I was doing alongside a brutal schedule,” she stated to the outlet. “I got to the point where, for a couple of years, I was predominantly eating fruit and vegetables and that was it. It is not a sustainable way to live. I was never anorexic to the point of being admitted to a hospital, thank goodness. But my periods stopped, so obviously, my body fat was too low.”
Mel went on to recall how she used to binge eat and drink until she was “unconscious” in the months before the Spice Girls split in late 2000.
Once she reached rock bottom, the singer reached out to a doctor who diagnosed her with depression, anxiety, agoraphobia, and anorexia, and put her on a treatment plan.
Now, when Mel looks back, she is “shocked” by how little support she and her fellow Spice Girls – Victoria Beckham, Geri Horner, Mel B, and Emma Bunton – received in the late ’90s and early 2000s.
“When I look back I am shocked about how much work we were supposed to do, how little time we had off, how little support we had for our mental health. It wasn’t even considered back then,” the 48-year-old continued.
Who I Am is set to be released on 15 September.