S Club star Rachel Stevens opens up about anxiety from fame and Paul Cattermole's death: "I felt very exposed"

Stevens, 46, was part of the iconic late 90s pop group formerly known as S Club 7, which has sold more than 10m albums worldwide with chart-toppers like Reach For The Stars and S Club Party. In 2002, Paul Cattermole left the group and the S Club members all went their separate ways in 2003, before reuniting in the 2010s.

Appearing on ITV’s Lorraine today (June 19) Stevens opened up about how her stardom led to “exposed” mental health troubles, which in turn caused her to seek professional help.

She said: “There was a lot of us, I always used to find the interview process really nerve-racking. Not so much when there was seven of us. I always felt very exposed - like I was going to say something wrong.

“I have always suffered with anxiety, ever since I was young. I didn’t feel that I was very seen or heard and that sort of became my armour. It’s a really interesting dynamic, being in a pop group at that time - we were very protected and everything was done for us, but it was a hundred miles an hour all the time. There wasn’t time to just sit.”

Stevens has explored her mental health and self-growth journey in her new book, called Finding My Voice, which she appeared on Lorraine to promote.

In February 2023, the group announced a reunion tour for the group’s 25th anniversary. But this changed just two months later when Cattermole died from multiple heart conditions, including cardiac arrhythmia and severe coronary artery atheroma. In the wake of his death, the group turned this anniversary into a tribute tour in Cattermole’s memory.

“I’ve always belived that whatever we go through in life, there is through it and it’s okay to sit in it and feel it,” Stevens said. “We took a step back and just took time, but we were never not going to do the tour. It took on a whole different life, became a tribute to him and it was so special to bring it all back to the fans again. It’s a process, like with everything.”