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‘I was nervous. Worried. Insecure. I just didn’t feel safe’: Rachel Stevens on her life in S Club 7

She has topped the charts and been called the world’s sexiest woman, while also being stricken with anxiety. She discusses Paul Cattermole, therapy and finding her strength

Apparently bored with promoting their future wedding-disco staple Don’t Stop Movin’, the UK band’s three male members – Paul Cattermole, Bradley McIntosh and Jon Lee – were arrested in Covent Garden in London for sharing a joint. “I was strong and driven and fiery and passionate, but I ended up becoming a very dulled-down version of myself because it was: ‘Keep going, put the smile on.’ I look back at interviews and think: ‘Who is that person?’” To lighten the mood, I ask what her overriding memory was of those early years in the band, hoping that the warm glow of nostalgia has taken hold. Photograph: Matt Frost/ITVHer initial return to TV triggered more talk about her appearance – in 2009, she won Rear of the Year (in Finding My Voice she jokingly refers to that as one of her greatest achievements), while in 2014 she was crowned Sexiest Woman of All Time in now defunct lads’ mag FHM’s 20th anniversary list.

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