Melanie C – the former Spice Girl born Melanie Chisholm and nicknamed Sporty Spice – has alleged that she was sexually assaulted by a masseur the night before the Spice Girls’ debut performance. Appearing on the How To Fail podcast to promote her new memoir Who I Am, Chisholm discussed the incident, which she says took place at a hotel in Istanbul. She told host Elizabeth Day that the experience made her feel “vulnerable” and “violated”.
“What happened to me, I kind of buried immediately, because there was other things to focus on,” she said, telling Day that the weeks of rehearsals and preparation the band had been doing made her want to focus on performing, rather than the assault. “Everything was leading towards the pinnacle of everything I’d ever wanted to do.”
