The ’90s girl group All Saints were often considered the “cooler” version of the Spice Girls.
Made up of sisters Natalie and Nicole Appleton along with friends Melanie Blatt and Shaznay Lewis, the London group hit the top of the charts in 1997 across the UK, Australia and Europe.
The Never Ever singers won Brit Awards and MTV Europe Awards but just as they started making it big in America, two of the girls discovered they were pregnant – and bosses weren’t happy.
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Blatt appears in the upcoming BBC documentary Girlbands Forever, which also features interviews with members of other British girl groups such as the Sugababes, Atomic Kitten and Little Mix.
Blatt fell pregnant in 1998 and welcomed her only child, daughter Lilyella, with Jamiroquai bassist Stuart Zender. The couple later split in 2006.
The now 50-year-old says All Saints bosses wanted her to abort the pregnancy, saying it would “ruin everything” and be the “end of the band”.
“We flew to LA and at [airport] LAX our manager, he was behind us, was telling us to abort our babies,” she says in the documentary, according to The Sun.
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Blatt discovered her pregnancy at the same time at childhood bestie and fellow bandmate Nicole, who had been dating Robbie Williams at the time.
“Nic and I had been best friends since we were 11,” she said.
“We took pregnancy tests in a hotel in Canada and spent that whole night discussing bringing our kids up together. It was one of the best nights ever.
“And it’s not really my place to talk about it, but unfortunately … it was a very uncomfortable situation because I kept mine, she didn’t. That was a really tricky part of my and our existence.”
Nicole has previously opened up about the abortion in her book with sister Natalie, titled Together, talking about the toll it took on the superstar couple’s relationship.
Williams depicted the loss in his biopic Better Man, and highlighted the impact that had on his mental health as well as their relationship.
Ultimately, Nicole got together with Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher and they welcomed son Gene Gallagher in 2001, before the singer welcomed daughter Skipper Hudson Haines in 2020 with partner Stephen Haines.
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Blatt also opens up in the documentary about the end of the girl group in 2001 (before two subsequent reunions in 2006 to 2008 and 2013 to 2022), saying they “hated” each other by the end.
Also featured in the documentary airing on Saturday night (Sunday morning AEST) – a companion piece to last year’s Boybands Forever – will be Heidi Range (Sugababes), Kelle Bryan (Eternal), Kerry Katona (Atomic Kitten), Perrie Edwards (Little Mix) and Su-Elise Nash (Mis-Teeq).
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