From the moment Kym Marsh and Myleene Klass were chosen to be in Britain’s first TV talent show band, the two women were at war.
Both were beautiful and fiercely ambitious, and it was immediately clear to those working with the pair that Hear’Say, the group forged in 2001 out of ITV’s Popstars, was not big enough for the two of them.
One member of the group’s entourage would regale me with tales of what a ‘nightmare’ his job was as Myleene and Kym constantly bickered.
They quickly became the breakout stars of Hear’Say, which only fanned the flames of competitive tension, and it wasn’t long before they had fallen out.
Their feuds were so vicious that Kym, a single mother-of-two from Merseyside, quit in 2002 – barely ten months after a judging panel led by ‘Nasty’ Nigel Lythgoe gave her a place in the band.
Lythgoe, who began his career in the 1970s as a dancer, said: ‘Of all of the people I’ve worked with over the years, that was the most vile time. It was one thing after another, it was totally unmanageable.’
Noel Sullivan, Suzanne Shaw, Danny Foster and Kym Marsh for Hear’Say’s reunion
As they were… the group forged out of ITV’s Popstars with Myleene Klass 25 years ago
But model and singer Myleene has decided against rejoining the group for next year’s tour
He also described it as a ‘nightmare’. But perhaps it won’t be a recurring one, because as Hear’Say now get back together, 25 years on from their No1 hit Pure And Simple, they are one band-member light. Myleene will not be joining Kym, Suzanne Shaw, Danny Foster and Noel Sullivan on their 13-arena tour next year.
So having announced yesterday they will perform with Noughties rivals Liberty X, whom they beat in the final of the ITV talent show, there will be nine ex-Popstars on tour instead of ten.
Myleene, 48, ‘didn’t want to do it,’ says a source familiar with the project, adding: ‘She’s got so much else going on.’
And while this may well be true, my snitches close to the bands say the rift is still just as bad as it was a quarter of a century ago.
‘There have been the odd bits of contact over the years as they supported one another during personal difficulties, such as Kym’s stillbirth when they shared an emotional phone call,’ says the source, adding: ‘Myleene even helped Kym choose the funeral music.’
However, the source continues: ‘The feud was awful, and even though a lot of time has passed since, the reunion wasn’t for Myleene. There’s still that rivalry under the surface, and they are very different women. Going back to the two of them working together would have been impossible.’
But model and singer Myleene has decided against rejoining the group for next year’s tour
Their feud bubbled over in public at the height of the band’s success as reports of bust-ups behind the scenes leaked to the media, with Myleene said to have accused her co-star of ‘getting too big for her boots’. Kym later admitted that having to wrap their arms around one another as part of a dance routine ‘felt so fake’.
The war reached a climax in America in June 2001 as a savage argument erupted ahead of the group’s appearance on, appropriately enough, the anarchic Jerry Springer Show. The two women could almost have been typecast as the late Jerry’s notoriously combative guests, yet the sparks were flying in a corridor backstage as Kym accused Myleene of ‘gossiping’ about her with other bandmembers.
At the start of 2002, the group were invited by the BBC to perform for British troops in Oman. Kym labelled the gig ‘a shameless publicity stunt’ and refused to join her bandmates, instead briefing the Press that she’d be staying with her young family in Britain.
This would prove the final insult for Myleene, whose fury prompted Kym to formally leave the group to pursue a solo career just weeks later.
Those who know the pair describe them as ‘chalk and cheese’, explaining: ‘They are just completely different personalities in every possible sense.’
While Kym wears her working-class roots and no-nonsense personality as a badge of honour, Myleene, a classically trained violinist and pianist, is more guarded – verging on ‘frosty’ when away from her closest friends.
And while both have enjoyed a raft of success away from Hear’Say and the world of pop, their paths have rarely crossed in public since the fallout.
Kym moved into acting, appearing on BBC1’s Doctors before joining Coronation Street where she remained for 13 years as barmaid Michelle Connor. More recently, she appeared on school drama Waterloo Road, was a presenter on the BBC’s daily magazine show Morning Live and has theatre credits to her name including Single White Female, on tour earlier this year.
It was apparent almost immediately after they were put in the band that heads would clash
Kym has since gone on to be a successful actress, spending 13 years on Coronation Street
After several classical music albums, Myleene, meanwhile, focused on modelling work, including fronting clothing and swimwear ranges with Marks & Spencer and Littlewoods. She’s also appeared on several reality shows, including a memorable stint in the Celebrity jungle in 2006, during which she showered in a white bikini.
A source familiar with the pair explained yesterday: ‘They were different women then, and they’re different women now.
‘Kym is incredibly down-to-earth and loves throwing herself into almost anything. She has a tendency to say yes to any opportunity and works incredibly hard.
‘At any given time, she’s doing two or three different projects at once, and she provides for a large family, so she never stops working. She’s the first to tell people she has lots of bills to pay and lots of mouths to feed. If either of the women were going reunite with Hear’Say, it was going to be Kym.’
Rumours of a comeback have been spiralling on social media in recent weeks, with the band teasing fans in a series of tongue-in-cheek posts showing them plotting their return by messaging one another.
And on Wednesday the group confirmed the tour with Liberty X – giving a series of interviews in which they spoke of their excitement at the reunion.
They also answered questions over Myleene’s absence, confirming she had been asked to participate but declined the offer.
In a carefully pre-considered and diplomatic response, co-star Suzanne Shaw explained: ‘She is always going to be part of Hear’Say.
‘She was invited to do the show, and we completely understand the timing wasn’t right for her. As she said, she will be cheering from the sidelines.’
As for Myleene, she didn’t appear to want to talk about the reunion when she attended the Attitude awards at the Roundhouse in north London that night. She shunned red-carpet interviews, which is most out of character for the bubbly star.
And yesterday, while her former bandmates and pop rivals were being interviewed about their 2027 gigs, she was seen arriving to host her Classic FM radio show in central London, happily posing for photographers while clutching a £7,000 Chanel bag and a vintage Louis Vuitton case.
The smile on her face showed she wanted to tell the world she’d made the right decision not to join the tour, which prompted some to wonder just what is next for Myleene.
One source quipped: ‘Maybe she’s waiting for a call up to host Strictly – it needs rescuing!’