Mel C Opens Up About Being Sexually Assaulted The Night Before Her First Spice Girls Performance

Melanie Chisholm, also known as “Mel C” and Sporty Spice from the Spice Girls, is speaking out about a night she claims she was sexually assaulted prior to her first Spice Girl performance.

The Spice Girl revealed in an interview with Elizabeth Day’s How to Fail podcast ahead of the Sept. 15 release of her forthcoming memoir Who I Am that she was sexually assaulted by a massage therapist at a spa in an Istanbul, Turkey, hotel in 1997. Chisholm was staying in the hotel the night before the girl group’s first live performance.

We had arrived in Istanbul. We did two shows over there and had never done a full-length concert before, so obviously we’d rehearsed for weeks ahead, costume fittings, makeup, hair, everything was leading to the pinnacle of everything I ever wanted to do and be,” Chisholm recalled. “Being on stage, being a performer, is what drives me, so here we were, the eve of the first-ever Spice Girls show, so I treat myself to a massage in the hotel.”

“And what happened to me — I kind of buried, immediately, because there were other things to focus on,” she continued. I didn’t want to cause a scene, but I also didn’t have the time to deal with it.” She went on to say that because she “didn’t deal with it at the time,” it allowed that night to be “buried for years and years and years.”

She said she didn’t think about the incident until she was writing her memoir about it: “It came to me in a dream, or I kind of woke up and it was in my mind.” And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I hadn’t even considered including that in the book.’ Then I had to ask myself, ‘Do I want to reveal this?’ And I just thought, hey, I think it’s really important for me to say it, to finally deal with it and process it.”

“Terrible things happen all the time,” she explained, “and this situation wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been.” Though she did not go into specifics about the assault, she described it as a “mild version” of sexual assault. “However, I felt violated. I felt extremely exposed. I was embarrassed. Then I wondered if I was doing it correctly. What exactly is going on? I was in a situation where you take your clothes off with this professional.”

Chisholm went on to say that while she had “so many thoughts and feelings” about that time in her life, she ultimately wanted to share and discuss it because of the impact it had on her: “It has affected me.” But I’d buried it, as I’m sure… many people do.”

Get The Latest Updates From The World Of Music, Movies, TV, Culture, And Fashion In Musical States Magazine. Please Follow Us On Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, And Linkedin To Receive Instantaneous Updates.