Former Pussycat Doll Melody Thornton has spilled all on her "very painful" stint in the girl group.
Melody Thornton wants to prove to the world that she is a singer, not just a back-up dancer
The 38-year-old star has taken a swipe at her ex-bandmates - Nicole Scherzinger, Ashley Roberts, Carmit Bachar, Jessica Sutta and Kimberly Wyatt - for never giving her the "chance" to showcase her singing talents and forcing her to "just" be a "back-up dancer".
Speaking to The Sun newspaper's Bizarre column, Melody - who quit the 'Buttons' group in 2010 - said: “It has been a long battle to prove I am a singer first and foremost.
“I have had to do a lot of work and campaigning to undo a lot of false beliefs.
“I was just a back-up dancer. It was very painful for me. It was a big opportunity to show what I could do and I was never given that chance really.
“In order to carry on singing, people need to know that you can sing in the first place and that wasn’t really the case for me in the group, so it was actually very painful.
“It can be hard to be a singer if no one knows you can sing. You need a record deal to continue but if you’re not considered, what can you do?”
Melody is now taking on the part of Rachel in a nationwide tour of 'The Bodyguard' in the UK, and she says playing the same role as her late idol Whitney Houston is poignant as she looked to the 'I Have Nothing' hitmaker for inspiration to give her the strength to continue in the Pussycat Dolls.
She recalled: “I used to imagine Whitney and Michael Jackson were in the audience for every Dolls performance because I wasn’t a dancer, so I had to come up with some reason to keep going and give it my all.”
The stage star insisted she feels she has to prove to the world that she is not just a backing dancer by taking on singing roles.
She added: “None of the girls have been [to see the show] and I wouldn’t expect them to.
“I didn’t regret my decision to quit the group and not to go back.
“I have to take jobs to undo all the preconceived notions that I’m just a backing dancer.”
Communication between the rest of the band seems to have broken down.
The girls were due to reunite for a tour in 2020 but the shows were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and then in January 2021, Nicole, 44, announced the plans had been dropped entirely.
But Kimberly, 41, only found out the reunion tour had been cancelled through a fan's Twitter post.
She previously said: "The way it was communicated wasn't nice or kind to most of us.
"I found out through a fan's tweet. I was devastated and cried my eyes out.
"We were planning a world tour and were even booked for Glastonbury."
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