‘I need it as an outlet’: Rachel Stevens, 42, admits she’s been seeing a therapist since her teens after ‘growing up in public’ with S Club 7
Rachel Stevens says she has weekly therapy sessions after ‘growing up’ in the spotlight with S Club 7.
The singer enjoyed overnight success with the pop group following their formation in 1997, when she as just 19 years old.
The group would go on to have four UK number one singles, a number one album and moderate success in the United States before disbanding in 2003.
Admission: Rachel Stevens says she has weekly therapy sessions after ‘growing up’ in the spotlight with S Club 7
But Rachel, now a 42-year old mother of two, admits she struggled to adapt after being catapulted into the public eye with band-mates Hannah Spearritt, Jo O’Meara, Jon Lee, Paul Cattermole, Bradley McIntosh and Tina Barrett.
Appearing remotely on Tuesday’s edition of Loose Women, she said: ‘In a band like S Club we were marketed at a very young audience and it was very shiny and happy and everyone saw the sort of finished polished product and we were very packaged.
‘Underneath all of that I had a lot of my stuff going on and my emotions and my things that were going on.
‘As soon as the camera’s on and [you’re] going on and singing [hit single] Reach, putting a smile on and putting a show on… but there’s a lot obviously going on behind the scenes.’
Old times: The singer enjoyed overnight success with the pop group following their formation in 1997, when she as just 19 years old
Speaking out: Appearing remotely on Tuesday’s edition of Loose Women, Rachel admitted she struggled to adapt after being catapulted into the public eye
The singer also admitted that she regularly visits a therapist after initially attending group counselling sessions during the separation and subsequent divorce of her parents when she was a child.
She said: ‘I actually had personal therapy when I was 18/19. That’s when I first started having therapy and felt like I really needed to talk about all of my stuff that was going on that I really needed to just make sense of.’
Despite being happily married to husband Alex Bourne since 2009, Rachel insisted her emotional fragility demands she offload to someone outside the family circle.
‘I have therapy weekly,’ she said. ‘I need it as that kind of outlet. I think I’m someone who has always been a worrier, someone who thinks a lot, someone who internalises a lot and is incredibly emotional and sensitive.
Opening up: The singer also admitted that she regularly visits a therapist after initially attending family counselling sessions following the separation of her parents when she was a child
‘I think I need that person, I speak to my closest friends obviously, my husband, but other than that, having that person who is not so close just gives me that outlet to be acknowledged and make sense of it all when there’s not that emotional connection, which I think is really important.’
She added: ‘It’s such a weird thing growing up in an industry where you see pictures of yourself all of the time… constantly seeing images of yourself which I think is really unhealthy.
‘I went into S Club feeling quite insecure, not really knowing who I was and growing up publicly. I think all of that stuff plays into everything, really.’
Loose Women airs weekdays at 12:30pm on ITV and catch up on the ITV Hub.