STRICTLY star Kym Marsh first shot to fame 22 years ago in pop group Hear’Say – but things weren’t always smooth sailing for her and fellow bandmate Myleene Klass.
The group, painstakingly assembled by ‘Nasty Nigel’ and co on the X Factor forerunner, released their mega-hit Pure And Simple in 2001.
Strictly star Kym Marsh has been open about her feud with Myleene Klass
The pair had very little contact after the band split in 2002
Hear’Say catapulted to stardom when they won Popstars in 2001
She and bandmates Myleene Klass, 44, were inseparable after they moved into a house in London with fellow bandmates Suzanne Shaw, Noel Sullivan and Danny Foster.
The former Corrie star, 46, joked that it put her in a position that men would kill for – “to see Mylene in the nude”.
In her autobiography, From the Heart, Kym wrote: “Neither of us could believe we’d been selected.
“It felt like all my dreams were coming true. We were in a whirlwind of promotional events and photoshoots.”
However, after just 18 months together the band splintered and the group they beat on Popstars, Liberty X, took on their mantle as manufactured pop royalty.
Some of Hear’Say’s members went on to even greater success, with Kym forging an acting career and Myleene becoming a successful radio star and musician.
Kym wrote: “I was lonely, stressed and sad when I should have been loving it.”
“Tensions were building in the band and I felt like I was the odd one out.”
After a blazing row on the The Jerry Springer Show after Kym was suspicions that Myleene had been slagging her off to the other bandmates, according to a report by The People at the time.
Kym wrote: “Me and Myleene had a slanging match, but someone split us up as we were due to go on air.
“Going on to perform our single was horrible. At one point, me and Myleene had to put our arms around one another. It was so fake and I hated every minute of it.
“We had been overheard arguing by staff at the studios and the following day our row was all over the newspapers.
“We managed to put it behind us but the niggles remained. I wish we’d been able to explain honestly how we were feeling.
“But the problems festered.”
Kym continued: “I’m sorry I quit through a newspaper rather than sitting down with the rest of the band. If we could have had a chat to clear the air it wouldn’t have been so bitter afterwards.”
The actress revealed she had little contact with Myleene over the next few years, but in 2009 grief brought them back together.
Kym tragically lost her baby son Archie in February 2009 after being born 21 weeks early.
Despite their rocky past, Kym revealed that she turned to Myleene for support.
She said: “We hadn’t really kept in contact but, being a mum herself, Myleene rang to see how I was.
“We were both in tears on the phone and, in the days after Archie’s death, we talked more and more.
“Myleene really was there for me. She helped me choose the music for Archie’s funeral and sent the most beautiful bouquet of flowers to the crematorium.”
Putting their bitter feud behind them, they reconnected when they appeared ITV’s Popstar to Opera Star.
“We have both grown up now that we have children of our own,” explained Kym.
“Life is too short to hold grudges and what happened back then isn’t anyone’s fault. I am determined not to let anything, or anyone come between us again.”
THAT'S RICH
I make £353k a year without a full-time job - my side hustle is so easy
In 2016, Kym defended her pal Myleene when she was criticised in 2016 for her ITV show Single Mums on Benefits, after she visited struggling families in a flashy motor.
At the time, Kym told OK! magazine: “Some viewers said that because she hadn’t been in the position of being a single mum who has struggled financially, then she couldn’t understand the women she interviewed.
In 2009 grief brought them back together
Strictly’s Kym reached out to Myleene after she tragically lost her son Archie
