Hannah Spearritt had to move into an office after losing her house.
S Club 7 star Hannah Spearritt ended up living in an office
The 41-year-old star - who has daughters Tea, four, and two-year-old Tora with fitness instructor Adam Thomas - shot to fame as part of 1990s pop group S Club 7 alongside Bradley McIntosh, Jo O’Meara, Jon Lee, Paul Cattermole, Rachel Stevens, and Tina Barrett but is now preparing to open a holistic cafe in West London and had to use the empty premises as a storage space when her landlord sold her rented home at short notice and briefly used a friend's office as a living room.
She said: "The kids’ beds were there and we had the crayons out. It was stressful. Our landlord needed the money and the property sold so fast. We ended up with under two days to leave.
What screwed us is we didn’t have time to find another place. We had somewhere over Christmas but ran out of time before we could move in. It was just a couple of weeks. We filled the unopened café with our belongings — we were so lucky to have that storage space — but had nowhere to go.
"We were allowed to stay in our friend’s office. We just used it as our living room. We could work in there and the kids played. It was extra space. The kids’ beds were there and we had the crayons out. The climbing frame was up; it was fun for them. It was stressful but you deal with it, don’t you? Especially with the kids. Whatever doesn’t break you, as they say ."
The 'Have You Ever' hitmaker was reportedly paid a salary of £150,000 a year during her time in S Club 7 - which is thought to have raked in £50 million as a brand - and went on to explain that fans may believe she and her former bandmates are "millionaires" but insisted that is not the case.
She told The Sun: "We were not on a good wage compared to the money being made. People think we must all be millionaires but sadly it’s just not true. It was what it was and we enjoyed ourselves at the time."
Meanwhile, Hannah - whose business venture has suffered setbacks because of "personal reasons" but is due to open the cafe this summer - last reunited with S Club 7 for an arena tour in 2015 and while she is looking forward to the future, she is yet to officially sign up for another series of shows with her bandmates and is hesitant because she doesn't want to be "paid a pittance."
She said: "At the moment it’s S Club 6. It hasn’t got the same ring to it has it but I’m going to make a final decision soon. I just need to be sure everything will be okay health-wise. There is no point being paid a pittance and getting exhausted. It has to be worthwhile and I have the kids to think about. I’d like them to see me up there. It’s an opportunity to do things right this time.”
"There have been delays with the café. The reasons are very personal. It’s life stuff, and hard to explain. I had an illness that took it out of me and I hardly got out of bed in three months. The depths of life hit us; big hardships. But ultimately we’re still here. And the café will open. We’re looking forward to the future. Last year was terrible but this year is going to be great. We hope our café will finally open in the summer, and we’ll be able to move into our own home by then too."
Tagged in Tina Barrett Rachel Stevens Jon Lee