YOU interview: Don’t you just ♥ Saturdays?
By JANE GORDON
With a reality show about to air on the E! TV channel, we’ll be seeing a lot more of The Saturdays in the coming weeks. Just don’t expect Kardashian-style catfights and conflicts, they tell Jane Gordon
Still going strong: After five years The Saturdays have gone global with a new TV show - but they promise they are not the new Kardashians
There is something special about The Saturdays. The five girls – Vanessa, Mollie, Una, Frankie and Rochelle – possess that rare quality that enables a girl band to survive in the music industry longer than the average group. Five years after they were put together by their record company Polydor, The Saturdays are not only still going, they are going global this year in a reality show on E! – Chasing The Saturdays – that follows the girls as they invade the States and record their new album in Hollywood, and is being hailed as ‘the new Kardashians’.
‘At the point at which everyone thought we would go quiet, we’re coming back louder than ever!’ says Frankie, 23 (the one with the short, dark hair who has been dating footballer Wayne Bridge for two years).
‘But we aren’t the new Kardashians – we’re nothing like them. We love their show, but what do they do? We’ve performed professionally for years. People used to call us “the new Girls Aloud”, and we have worked with them and they are lovely, but if we are the new anything then “the new Spice Girls” gets us more excited,’ adds Rochelle, 23 (the tallest one who is married to Marvin Humes of boy band JLS).
It is obvious to me, after ten minutes in their company, that the quality that makes The Saturdays the perfect choice for the American cable channel – and the same quality that explains their longevity as a girl band – isn’t their talent for singing in harmony, but their talent for talking (often hilariously) in harmony. At the end of a day that started at 8.30am, the girls seem unfazed by following up their photo shoot with an interview. Which is impressive when Una, 31 (the red-haired Irish one married to rugby international Ben Foden), has had her ten-month old baby Aoife (pronounced ee-fa) with her all day (without a nanny) and Rochelle is expecting her first child with husband Marvin in June.
Saturday night divas, from left: Vanessa, Mollie, Frankie, Rochelle and Una. All dresses exclusively made by the pretty dress company. Shoes: Terry de Havilland (Vanessa and Una); Kurt Geiger (Mollie); River Island (Frankie) and Karen Millen (Rochelle). Jewellery, Harrods
When Una announced her pregnancy the other girls were worried that it might signal the end of The Saturdays. But quite the opposite happened, and it cemented the family feeling they already had. ‘I was determined not to let the girls down, and luckily when we went on tour I was six months pregnant; the time when you get a burst of energy. So it was fine – six months gone, dancing and high kicking on tour,’ Una says with a grin.
‘Una was wicked during that tour. We never heard her complain once,’ Rochelle says.‘Well then, the pressure is really on for you now Rochelle, isn’t it?’ Mollie, 25 (the blonde nicknamed ‘Barbie’ by the band), adds and everyone laughs, especially Rochelle.
‘We take the mickey out of each other all the time. That’s our relationship. We give Mollie a terrible time when we see her talking to the mirror, saying, “Hello! My name is Mollie, nice to meet you!”’ says Vanessa, 23 (the smallest one who is the youngest by a few months).
‘Prince Harry was out of my league. We met a couple of times, but he was just a friend’ Mollie
‘Well, there’s no point standing still in front of a mirror, because you don’t know what you look like in motion. So I walk and talk a bit,’ Mollie says with a giggle.
The banter between the girls is like that between sisters. ‘It really is like being sisters; we can’t fool each other. We’re aware of the tiniest changes,’ says Mollie.
‘Yes, we know everything about each other – like Rochelle loves sushi. At lunch one day, we ordered sushi for her because that’s what she always has. But when she turned up and they brought her order, she said, “Actually, I don’t like sushi any more.” And that was the giveaway that she was pregnant,’ Frankie says.
Like family, too, if any member of the band seems to have a problem the others will have ‘the sisterly chat’ with them. They gave Una a ‘sisterly chat’ about how thin she had become after giving birth (she is now back to normal) and they all keep a watchful eye out for signs that Vanessa (the cutest and curviest of the band) might be dieting. But they all admit they feel pressure – and more so now with the E! show – to look perfect in pictures.
The clean-living doll, Mollie, left (Dress, Philip Armstrong; Shoes, Kurt Geiger; Ring, Katie Rowland; Bracelets, Jenny Packham; Earrings, Mawi, from Harrods. And the upfront one, Frankie, right (Dress, Stylestalker, from Harrods; Shoes, River Island; Ring, Mawi, from Harrods. Earrings, Carat, from Harrods)
‘We always say we wish we could de-tag the pictures we don’t like of ourselves on Google in the way that other girls can de-tag themselves on Facebook,’ says Mollie. It’s difficult to imagine a bad picture of any of the girls, and you believe them when they say there is no rivalry over looks ‘because we are all so different’. They have no interest in what position they hold in all those annual ‘most beautiful’ or ‘most sexy’ lists. Although they do point out that in 2010, Frankie topped Zoo magazine’s ‘most beautiful bums’ poll, as well as being voted as having the ‘hottest body in the world’ by enamoured readers.
‘Oh God, don’t remind me!’ Frankie says, cringing with embarrassment.
‘Own it, girl! If I were voted the hottest body in the world I would be like, "Marvin? Don’t get too relaxed, because you’re living with the hottest body in the world!"' Rochelle says with a laugh.
However glamorous they look, there is something wholesome – almost old-fashioned – about the girls. They would never, they say, ‘do all that business Rihanna does’ in their videos (although they love her). ‘I suppose sex sells, but it’s just not for us,’ says Frankie.
‘Yes, there’s a time and a place for that sort of thing: the bedroom. Oh, gosh! I sound just like my mother!’ Mollie adds.
‘I can be very loud. Although at first there was this shy, quiet side to me’ Vanessa
Asked about the qualities they most admire in each other, they pick Una first as the ‘yummiest and most natural mummy’. ‘She makes it look so easy, but she never stops. She’s doing two
full-time jobs,’ says Vanessa.
full-time jobs,’ says Vanessa.
‘Sometimes it’s a bit hard but it’s life, you know?’ says Una, who looks beautiful but exhausted.
Frankie is admired for her honesty and bravery in going public about the depression – panic attacks and negative feelings of being ‘ugly and worthless’ – she suffered in 2011, which resulted in her being briefly hospitalised.
Frankie is admired for her honesty and bravery in going public about the depression – panic attacks and negative feelings of being ‘ugly and worthless’ – she suffered in 2011, which resulted in her being briefly hospitalised.
‘I take time to measure people up, and I can be up one day and down the next. I really am “sunshine and showers”,’ Frankie says, referring to the phrase she has tattooed across her back.
Mollie was going to be a professional skier until the age of 17; she was selected for the England adult ski squad, but gave it up to pursue a career in singing (twice auditioning for The X Factor but never getting beyond boot camp). ‘Mollie is the one that you could most describe as pure. She doesn’t drink, she is a very good girl, she doesn’t swear. But she is very competitive,’ says Una.
‘The girls refuse to even play cards with me because I’m so competitive. I’m like Monica in Friends,’ Mollie admits.
The high-kicking mama, Una, left (Dress, Issa; Shoes, Kurt Geiger; Bracelet, Folli Follie). And the caring big sister, Rochelle, right (Dress, Philip Armstrong; Shoes, Nine West; Ring and Bracelet, both Mawi, from Harrods)
Meanwhile Vanessa – who is dating stylist Gary Salter – has overcome her initial shyness to emerge as ‘the fun one’. ‘I can be very loud. Although at first there was this shy, quiet side to me,’ she says.
‘Well babe, believe me, there ain’t no quiet side now,’ Rochelle responds, complaining that since becoming pregnant, partying is the last thing on her mind, ‘because I have to be in bed by seven. I look at my watch and think, “It’s nearly five, almost time for bed.”
‘Well babe, believe me, there ain’t no quiet side now,’ Rochelle responds, complaining that since becoming pregnant, partying is the last thing on her mind, ‘because I have to be in bed by seven. I look at my watch and think, “It’s nearly five, almost time for bed.”
Meanwhile, all everyone else in the world – but mostly Vanessa – seems to be doing is eating sushi and partying till two in the morning.’
The girls describe Rochelle as ‘the big sister’ who looks after them. ‘Oh my God, she is so tidy. She repacked my suitcase on the way back from Los Angeles because she couldn’t stand the state it was in,’ comments Mollie.
‘I am a bit OCD, but luckily Marvin is quite similar,’ Rochelle says.
‘They look like the perfect couple, and they are the perfect couple,’ says Mollie dreamily.
‘There is no such thing as a perfect couple, trust me, babes,’ Rochelle replies.
‘Mollie is looking for someone who is a perfect match to her Barbie; she’s looking for her Ken. That’s her problem,’ says Vanessa.
‘It’s true that I am drawn to pretty boys. They do sort of have to look like Ken,’ Mollie admits.
Mollie had a two-year relationship with Andy Brown, the pretty-boy lead singer from the band Lawson, and has been single since her ten-month relationship with supermodel David Gandy broke up last February. She has, she insists, ‘only ever had three boyfriends’ (‘Same as me!’ Frankie shouts) and she denies that the unknown third was Prince Harry. A month or so after her split with Gandy, there was intense gossip about the Prince and Ms King after they were pictured dancing together in a karaoke bar.
Mollie had a two-year relationship with Andy Brown, the pretty-boy lead singer from the band Lawson, and has been single since her ten-month relationship with supermodel David Gandy broke up last February. She has, she insists, ‘only ever had three boyfriends’ (‘Same as me!’ Frankie shouts) and she denies that the unknown third was Prince Harry. A month or so after her split with Gandy, there was intense gossip about the Prince and Ms King after they were pictured dancing together in a karaoke bar.
But Mollie subsequently denied she was dating Harry, pointing out that he was ‘out of my league, come on! Harry was never anything. We met a couple of times, but he was just a friend,’ she says.
The girls were disappointed by Mollie’s denial, because they all ‘wanted to meet Kate – we love her!’ But they point out that ‘queues of men’ have pursued Mollie in the past few months (she has also been linked to England cricketer Stuart Broad) but she isn’t interested, as she still isn’t over her break-up with Gandy.
The girls were disappointed by Mollie’s denial, because they all ‘wanted to meet Kate – we love her!’ But they point out that ‘queues of men’ have pursued Mollie in the past few months (she has also been linked to England cricketer Stuart Broad) but she isn’t interested, as she still isn’t over her break-up with Gandy.
The party girl, Vanessa (Dress, Ted Baker; Shoes, Terry de Havilland; Rings, YSL, from Harrods; Belt, Jenny Packham; Earrings, Lana, from Harrods
Mollie insists that one of the reasons she is happy to remain single is her fear of introducing a new boyfriend to the rest of the girls (‘worse than taking him home to the parents’). Frankie nods her head in agreement, and reveals that she went through hell when the girls found out she was with Wayne. Frankie had only known the premier league footballer a week when a newspaper reported they were a couple.
‘When I saw her the next day I was like, “So why did me and Marvin have to read the paper to find out about you and this Wayne Bridge?”’ Rochelle says.
‘We were just being protective. Everyone thinks footballers are badly behaved, over-paid and over-sexed but Wayne is totally Frankie’s Ken, he’s lovely,’ Mollie says.
Wayne has a son (from his relationship with Vanessa Perroncel) and tonight Jaydon is staying with them as part of his sixth birthday celebrations. ‘It’s lovely having him around and seeing Wayne with him, because now I know what I have let myself in for,’ Frankie says.
‘Frankie will be next. I saw her being sick the other day and I thought, “Oh Frankie, would you like some sushi?”’ Rochelle exclaims.
‘I’m not saying anything,’ says Frankie, in a way that suggests Rochelle may be right.
When E! commissioned the show, they expected it would involve the usual catfights, conflicts and bitching that dominate reality television. But to their surprise – and ultimate delight – what emerged was very different. Chasing the Saturdays, the network believes, is an inspirational show about five
young women with a great friendship who are ‘winning over America one hit at a time’, but are also coping with the complications of real life.
young women with a great friendship who are ‘winning over America one hit at a time’, but are also coping with the complications of real life.
Filmed shortly after Rochelle’s wedding in August, the show sees the girls living in LA apartments for three months as they pursue their American dream. Separated from their families (although Una had Aoife with her most of the time), previews of the show reveal how the girls kept in contact with their boyfriends and husbands via Skype (with some footage between Marvin and Rochelle reportedly quite explicit).
‘But you know what? It really is a family show,’ says Una, holding up her daughter who has been sleeping peacefully throughout the interview.
‘With plenty of potential for expansion for a second series!’ says Rochelle, laughing as she pats her tiny baby bump.
Chasing The Saturdays starts on Sunday 3 February at 10pm on E! Entertainment Television
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