After being hand-picked from thousands of hopefuls to join Hear'Say, Kym Marsh and Myleene Klass became instant friends.
Along with bandmates Suzanne Shaw, Noel Sullivan and Danny Foster, they moved into a house in London as they prepared to launch their attack on the music world.
Strictly Come Dancing star Kym shared a room with Myleene and teased that admirers across the country would kill to swap places with her.
"Neither of us could believe we'd been selected. It felt like all my dreams were coming true. We were in a whirlwind of promotional events and photoshoots," Kym said in her autobiography, From the Heart.
But the good times didn't last forever - with Kim sensationally quitting the band in February 2002 after arguments with Myleene.
Hear'Say's debut single Pure and Simple became the UK's fastest-selling number one since records began, shifting a staggering 500,00 copies in the first week.
It was followed up with a sell-out tour and a number one album, Popstars, but Kym was seriously fed up by this point.
"I was lonely, stressed and sad when I should have been loving it," she said. "Tensions were building in the band and I felt like I was the odd one out."
Kym made the decision to leave after one almighty barney just before the band went on The Jerry Springer Show in the US.
"Me and Myleene had a slanging match but someone split us up as we were due to go on air," wrote Kym in her 2013 autobiography.
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"Going on to perform our single was horrible. At one point, me and Myleene had to put our arms around one another. It was so fake and I hated every minute of it.
"We had been overheard arguing by staff at the studios and the following day our row was all over the newspapers.
"We managed to put it behind us but the niggles remained. I wish we'd been able to explain honestly how we were feeling. But the problems festered."
According to a report by The People at the time, the row erupted over Kym's suspicions that Myleene has been slagging her off to the other bandmates. In turn, Myleene apparently told Kym that the band thought she had 'got too big for her boots'.
The row reportedly ended with the pair 'nose-to-nose' in a corridor with a furious Kym accusing Myleene of constantly 'getting her t**s out'.
For Kym, the final straw was when a separate story was leaked to the papers, which Kym was told was leaked by someone in the band.
Feeling 'utterly betrayed', when asked for a comment, the former Coronation Street star told the newspaper that she quit.
"I'm sorry I quit through a newspaper rather than sitting down with the rest of the band. If we could have had a chat to clear the air it wouldn't have been so bitter afterwards," said Kym.
Apart from a few texts and a chat at a TV awards in 2006, Kym had no real contact with Myleene until her son Archie died in February 2009.
Kym and then partner Jamie Lomas, of Hollyoaks fame, lost their little boy shortly after he was born at 18 weeks early.
Despite her fractious past with Myleene, she was one of the first to reach out to support Kym.
"We hadn't really kept in contact but, being a mum herself, Myleene rang to see how I was," Kym wrote.
"We were both in tears on the phone and, in the days after Archie's death, we talked more and more.
"Myleene really was there for me. She helped me choose the music for Archie's funeral and sent the most beautiful bouquet of flowers to the crematorium."
Working on the ITV series Popstar to Operastar together also helped the pair to reconnect - and left Kym hoping they would now be friends for life.
"We have both grown up now that we have children of our own," explained Kym.
"Life is too short to hold grudges and what happened back then isn't anyone's fault. I am determined not to let anything or anyone come between us again."
It was Kym who actually came to Myleene's defence when she received a fierce backlash for her ITV show on being a single mum in June 2016.
Myleene was slammed by some viewers for visiting families in an expensive car while wearing top of the range clothing in her Single Mums On Benefits show.
Speaking out in support of her former bandmate, Kym admitted she could not grasp the criticism aimed at Myleene.
"Some viewers said that because she hadn't been in the position of being a single mum who has struggled financially, then she couldn't understand the women she interviewed," Kym told OK! Magazine.
"I actually do think you can empathise with people while not being in their position.
"If Myleene had said it was as tough for her as a single mum being in a privileged position as it is for women with little money, then I'd understand the criticism, but she wasn't saying that."
There are event talks that relations between Kym and Myleene are so good now that they planning a very exciting reunion.
Before the second national lockdown, Hear’Say reportedly held secret talks over a comeback.
It was reported that the group are thinking of marking the 20th anniversary of them winning ITV reality show Popstars.
Kym set up a WhatsApp group with Myleene and their fellow former bandmates to exchange messages about a potential reunion.
It remains to be seen whether the band will get back together, but it’s clear that Kym and Myleene have certainly settled their differences.
*Strictly Come Dancing continues tonight at 6.50pm on BBC One.
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