At the turn of the Millennium, teen pop group S Club 7 were big news. Created by Simon Fuller, the impresario behind the Spice Girls and Pop Idol, they sold more than 17 million records before disbanding in 2004. Of the seven members, blonde Hannah Spearritt has been, arguably, the most successful since the split, making the transition to television to star in ITV sci-fi series Primeval and winning roles in Casualty and EastEnders. Yet role after role has cast the shy singer as a tomboy, an image she eventually tired of.

Then, during S Club 7’s most recent reunion in 2015, fans were introduced to a new-look Hannah. By then 34, Hannah posed in revealing tops that drew attention to an embonpoint that put her co-stars in the shade. What Hannah didn’t admit was that her newfound curves were not entirely natural. In August 2013, like 25,000 other British women each year, she had a breast augmentation, taking her pert small-B cup to a curvy C. The change looked all the more dramatic given her slender size eight, 5ft 3in frame, prompting fans to compliment her new, ‘sophisticated’ look. Yet behind the glamour, Hannah was desperately sick, suffering from crippling fatigue-like symptoms that would destroy her health, career, relationship and nearly her life. That was before an ‘explant’ – or removal of implants – in 2016, and now the 36-year-old is keen to tell the story of ‘the hardest, most traumatic four years of my life’ to help others. As far as Hannah is concerned there are two, clear culprits to her misery: the textured silicone gel pockets or breast implants she had put in. She recalls: ‘My operation was performed by a top Harley Street cosmetic surgeon. I paid top dollar.’ (Breast augmentation can cost anywhere from £3,000 to £8,000.) She explains when we meet for lunch: ‘I never felt womanly enough on top. I’d compare myself to the other girls in the band during photoshoots and was jealous of their beautiful curves.’ Although pleased to bid farewell to her hated padded bras, it wasn’t long before Hannah’s health began to suffer. ‘Within six months my hair started to fall out in clumps,’ she says. ‘Then I started sleeping more and more – eventually 22 hours a day. I couldn’t move from bed because my muscles were aching. I lost balance, I was always freezing cold and my brain fog meant I couldn’t remember anything.’ After she needed paramedic attention during a charity bike ride in June 2014, Hannah’s then partner of two years, personal trainer Adam Thomas, insisted she seek medical attention. ‘I went to a private GP,’ she recalls. ‘He said I was anxious and depressed, and prescribed a maximum dose of Prozac.’ Her symptoms persisted, and within a few weeks she was ‘unable to peel myself off the sofa’.

With a 13-date reunion tour approaching and desperate to boost her energy levels, Hannah visited a psychiatrist – who prescribed a maximum dose of epilepsy and anti-anxiety drug Pregabalin. ‘The symptoms eased. It felt as if I had my life back,’ she remembers. The drugs got her through the tour, but it quickly became evident that strong medication was merely masking symptoms – and by the end of the physically demanding month, she felt ‘sicker than I was before’. Appointments with private endocrinologists, immunologists and gastroenterologists revealed nothing but a ‘borderline underactive thyroid’. She says: ‘Doctors didn’t listen. I felt like I was dying. I could barely walk.’ Flippant doctors simply made her condition worse by prescribing a daily cosh of sleeping tablets, antihistamines and anti-depressants which Hannah took just to ‘get her through the day’. Hannah didn’t know that Adam had been collating a timeline of her mysterious illness and noticed a link between her breast-implant operation and the gradual onset of symptoms. But she wasn’t willing to accept that her new curves were the cause of her illness. ‘I didn’t want to hear it. I denied it and told Adam he was mad,’ she admits. ‘Eventually it caused huge rows and we broke up. I didn’t want to give them up.’

In June 2016, the couple split amid reports that father-of-one Adam had attacked Hannah and sent threatening messages. A trial was held but collapsed. Hannah says: ‘It was one big misunderstanding but Adam never assaulted me.’ The pair reunited almost immediately. So-called ‘breast implant illness’ has been acknowledged by several medical experts as a potential side effect of silicone implantation. There are no official figures for the number of women affected, but Texas specialist Dr Edward Melmed has been carrying out breast-implant ‘explants’ on affected women in Dallas for more than 24 years. He says: ‘Only one per cent of women who receive silicone breast implants will have this adverse reaction. But in the US, that’s still about 5,000 women. A microscopic seepage of silicone attaches itself to nerve endings in the body. This seems to result in hair loss, cognitive disorders, chronic fatigue, dry eyes and severe muscle pain.’ While Dr Melmed is convinced, many cosmetic surgeons, such as Fazel Fatah, former president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, deny any causal relationship. ‘There is no evidence that breast implants cause these symptoms,’ he says. ‘It’s completely coincidental.’

By the end of 2015, and having spent £100,000 on private doctors, Hannah quickly agreed to the offer of her first big acting role since the start of her illness – two episodes of BBC drama Casualty. ‘It took an entire day and night to learn an A5 sheet of lines,’ she says. ‘I’d fall asleep in the dressing room between takes and sleep for 18 hours after filming.’ Adam’s research led him to Dr Melmed and Hannah – reluctantly – agreed to speak to him. The doctor confirmed Adam’s suspicions. ‘I always suspected it deep down,’ Hannah admits, ‘but to hear a doctor finally give me an answer was the best feeling. I felt stupid and embarrassed that I’d done this to myself, and didn’t believe Adam for so long.’ Within minutes of the phone call to Dr Melmed, she booked to have her implants removed in April 2016 at the Plymouth Nuffield hospital by surgeon Dr James McDiarmid – as recommended by Dr Melmed. ‘I woke from the op feeling 60 per cent better almost instantly,’ she remembers. ‘My temperature rose up to normal and my fever disappeared, as did the fatigue and anxiety. My natural energy just came back.’

According to Dr Jan Cohen Tervaert, director of rheumatology at the University of Alberta in Canada, and who has treated more than 200 affected women, Hannah’s recovery isn’t surprising. ‘Studies show that for some women, exposure to silicone triggers an abnormally increased amount of [immune system cells called] antibodies and T cells,’ he says, explaining this is a sign the body’s defences have been raised. When silicone is removed, the immune system is no longer recruited to ‘overreact’. On return from a two-month Indian yoga retreat in March 2017, Hannah received a call from her agent. ‘I was told about the EastEnders role,’ she says. In September 2017, she was cast as Kandice Taylor. The character appeared in two episodes over Christmas, with scope to return. Despite having spent the best part of two years ‘bedridden’, Hannah took part in a celebrity boxing match last month for Sport Relief and put up an impressive fight against fellow pop star Vanessa White of The Saturdays. It was her first foray into intense exercise after . ‘When the call came I thought, “Oh my God, I am ready,” ’ she smiles, ‘and to have come out the other end and feel so strong in my body… it feels incredible.’ So does she miss her enhanced bust at all? ‘Oh they didn’t suit me at all,’ she admits. ‘They felt weird and swollen. It’s wonderful being back to normal. I love my flat chest.’ So what advice would she give those who may be scouring the internet for surgeons to inflate their ‘assets’? She says: ‘I don’t want to scaremonger. Just read up on the potential dangers and read stories like mine…’ Then she pauses and adds: ‘Actually, yeah – just don’t get breast implants.’

If you have been affected by breast implant-related issues, go to breastimplantillness.com for support.
– DailyMail

The BBC has managed to wrangle Spencer Matthews and members of S Club 7 and The Saturdays to step into a boxing ring and actually fight for an upcoming TV special. In a format that sounds way too good to be true, four stars will go through extensive training for a special Sport Relief programme called — you guessed it — Celebrity Boxing! And the matches are pretty exciting too! In the second bout, two of pop’s all-time biggest groups collide when Hannah Spearritt from S Club 7 squares off with Vanessa White from The Saturdays in a bout that will surely have viewers All Fired Up. Our advice for Hannah is Don’t Stop Movin’, and definitely rely on some of the scrapping you learned from tangling with the Taylor family on EastEnders. Celebrity Boxing will be airing as part of the Sport Relief telethon on Friday, March 23 on BBC One, so llllllllllllllet’s get ready to rumble!

We catch up with Hannah Spearritt – yes she from S Club 7 fame to find out what her drag name is, why her character on Casualty is actually a dirty minx and why she’d be up for a 20th anniversary of S Club 7 – when the time comes.

JH: We note that your character’s name in Casualty is Mercedes Christie, which is so camp and quite porny. So what are you bringing to the character worthy of a name Mercedes?
HS: Do you think it’s quite a porn name?

JH: Yeah, because it’s got the sexiness of Mercedes, a sexy car, and then Christie at the end which is kinda like, (adopting porny voice) “oh hi, Christie here”.
HS: You know what, even though she wears quite down and out clothes, underneath it all she’s got porn underwear on and crotchless panties. (Laughs)

JH: She’s one of those is she?
HS: She’s a complete slut.

JH: Out of curiosity what is your porn name?
HS: Oh, what’s the formula again?

JH: Your first pet and your mother’s maiden name.
HS: This is not sexy. It’s Barry Bain. (laughter) That really isn’t good. That has to be the most un-sexual name in the world.

JH: Well do you want to know what your drag name is?
HS: Ok, what’s that.

JH: Well we use a website. so your first name is Hannah so I’ll type that in. And the name of your first pet was Barry?
HS: Yeah, Barry the Hamster… (laughter)

JH: Ok now you have to pick you’re favourite song from this set list…
HS: Vogue.

JH: Ok, processing… Your drag name is… Rosemary Hull.
HS: Oh I love it.

JH: And you’re famous for Sickening Fashion.
HS: Brilliant. Can I do one more? What was the list of songs again?

JH: Ok, Hannah, Barry and which song?
HS: Raining Men…

JH: Good choice. Ok, processing… Ooh, Flossy Glitz.
HS: Oh I love it. I could definitely work that.

JH: Apparently you’re famous for death drops and high kicks.
HS: Oh I love it. That’s the one. I love drag.

JH: So drag is:
A) The greatest thing since sliced bread.
B) Creepy, wrong and slightly evil.
C) A chance to see how a dress should be worn.
HS: Ooh it’s a choice between A and C. I’ll go for A.

JH: Would you like to be a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race?
HS: Oh, I’ve not seen this what is this? Is it a television program?

JH: YES. OMG.
HS: Oh my God where have I been?

JH: It’s on television. You’ve got a television right?
HS: I’ve obviously been out too much and not watching this programme.

JH: Monday nights. Tru TV. I don’t know what channel that is.
HS: Ok I’ll look for it. I literally have every channel going but I’ve not come across it. I do apologise. I’m sure I’d be an avid fan if I was.

JH: Moving on. At the moment there is this thing going on with the Spice girls reuniting for their 20th year. In a couple of years it’s going to be 20 years of S Club 7. Would you be up for a reunion of that kinda scale?
HS: Is it really going to be 20 years? I think it would be lovely to do something to mark that but I had no idea it had been that long. I’m sure you’re right. Yeah, we got together around 1999. That’s crazy. So yes, it would be awesome to mark that 20th somehow.

JH: You’d need to learn all those dance moves again.
HS: I know.

JH: I could come and teach you.
HS: Are you a choreographer?

JH: No but I know the dance moves.
HS: I bet you do. I bet you know them more than I do.

JH: Who would win in a ‘fight club’ band off. Steps, B*Witched or S Club 7?
HS: Oh, S Club 7 – because there’s 7 of us. And we’ve got boys. We’d totally win.

JH: You could tag team.
HS: Exactly we could take rests. We could have three fighting while we take rests.

JH: But I hear the one’s from B*Witched they fight like their dad.
HS: They fight like their dad?

JH: Yeah. They fight like their dad… It’s in their lyrics!
HS: Oh it’s in the lyrics. Oh I’m sorry. (laughter)

JH: Do you know what Amyl Nitrates is?
HS: It sounds like a chemical.

JH: It’s poppers. Have you heard of poppers before?
HS: (shyly) Yeah. (laughs) Oh dear. It’s been years since I’ve seen those. (laughs)

JH: Your days in the G-A-Y bar are all coming back now.
HS: Yeah. My God that has taken me back.

JH: Do you know what space docking is?
HS: I don’t but I’m thinking about it…

JH: Only guys can do it…
HS: Do you need a penis to do it?

JH: Yes.
HS: Do you share willie shots by webcam?

JH: No, but good guess. It’s where you get each others foreskins and place it over each others willies.
HS: (laughter) And then what happens?

JH: We don’t know. I think it’s just a one time thing.
HS: That’s brilliant. (laughs)

JH: What should Madonna do next?
HS: God. What can she do next? That’s the question. She’s done everything. Go and get a nice cuppa tea (laughs) put a onesie on, do a bit of space docking and watch Ru Paul’s Drag Race. And, film herself doing it and stick it on that stupid programme where they film people watching TV. What’s it called? Google… Goggle Box?

JH: What is the best way to deal with a broken heart!
A) A big bottle of red, Celine Dion CDs and ice cream.
B) Scissors to all his trousers, undies and ties.
C) Put everything in a box to the left.
HS: Erm C. And then, if anything was left, burn it. Go outside get the bbq out and burn it.

JH: Have you ever done that to an ex’s stuff?
HS: I’ve done little things before, but more spiritual. When I want to let go of something then I would burn that one piece that reminds me of that particular person or feeling and burn it to kinda release… I sound so weird now. To say goodbye to it but not in an angry way but in a releasing thing from me.

JH: Complete this sentence. Champagne is..
HS: I was gonna say better than sex, but it’s not. Champagne is great for breakfast.

JH: What’s more enjoyable your pop career, your soap career or your musical theatre career?
HS: You’re gonna think I’m sitting on the fence on this one but they’ve all been good in different ways. For me it’s been about timing. S Club wouldn’t work for me now, yet it worked for me then. It really worked for that part of my life when I was 16, when I was happy to run around a stage and smile all the time. I don’t want to smile all the time anymore (laughs). If I’ve got something to say I’ll say it, but back then it was, “no, happy all the time, come on”. I would have to say, from my current point, the acting side because that’s what I want more and hopefully what I love continues.
– thegayuk.com

Unfortunately, it’s not available to view in the US.