The Spice Girls famously sang in their debut hit Wannabe that ‘friendship never ends’, but years of rows and fallouts within the girlband have truly tested their claim.
With the 30th anniversary of their first single approaching, decades of tension now threaten to derail any hopes fans have of seeing the group perform together on stage again.
As MailOnline exclusively revealed Geri, 52, has pulled the plug on plans for a new tour after ‘losing patience’ with ‘little digs’ from Mel B, 49.
And reportedly can’t ‘bear to share the stage with her bandmate’.
Now, a showbiz insider tells MailOnline: ‘The Spice Girls have been plagued with tensions and rows over the years and they can’t escape it.
Even now they’re supposedly older and wiser.
‘There has been a personality clash between Geri and Mel B for years and in recent times, Scary Spice has gone out of her way to embarrass Ginger.
Even making unkind remarks on her birthday.
‘The girls will never officially quit the band because the Spice Girls brand is too strong, and they know a potential comeback of any sorts will be lucrative.
‘But without Victoria on board and now Geri pulling out of discussions, the girls reuniting again on stage in the near future is unlikely.’
Victoria Beckham, 50, had already ruled herself out of any future shows, but Emma Bunton, 48, Melanie C, 50, Geri and Mel B were recently in discussions about another run of tour dates following the success of their 2019 reunion.
However, Geri and Mel B’s ferocious 20-year-old rivalry, which stems right back to the origins of the band, has shattered their hopes of touring for a final time.
Here, MailOnline traces the origins of the band’s feud right back to the early days of the Spice Girls, and reveals the bitter rivalries and petty disputes that have derailed their relationship over the years.
Tensions among the girl group were prevalent from the get-go after Geri landed her place in the band, despite the fact she was not being professionally trained and hadn’t attended stage school like Emma, Victoria, Mel B and Mel C.
The girls were cast after replying to an ad in The Stage magazine for a ‘manufactured’ female pop group – all except for Geri, who did not attend the original open auditions.
Instead, she got to to a later stage by bombarding Heart Management’s office with calls until she was granted a meeting with Chris Herbert, the boss’s son who was learning the ropes as a talent manager.
Impressed by her vivacious personality, he agreed she could attend a callback with girls who had already been through the audition process.
With a stint as a nightclub dancer in Majorca and a glamour model under her belt, Geri certainly wasn’t shy about being in the limelight – but the trouble was her lack of vocal talent.
In a memo obtained by The Sun, the band’s first manager, Chris Herbert’s father Bob, even devised a plan to axe ‘tone deaf’ Geri, before the band launched.
According to the paper, Bob claimed: ‘We included Geri because she had a very strong personality and her looks seemed to suit the image we were trying to project.
‘Unfortunately she was tone deaf and had awful timing, which meant she was unable to sing in tune or dance in time.
‘For weeks her lack of talent was a severe problem for her but with perseverance we found slots for her in the harmonies and the dance routines.’
Geri is said to have caught onto the plan, however, and managed to get the group out of their deal with Heart. They went on to sign with Simon Fuller and release their first single.
When the Spice Girls burst on to the scene, what Geri may have lacked in vocal prowess, she made up for in sheer bravado.
As Ginger Spice, Geri became a cultural icon of the Nineties, and was famed for her cheeky, carefree attitude as well as her outlandish outfits – especially her Union Jack dress at the 1997 BRIT Awards – which remains one of the defining images of the decade.
Deferring to nobody, not even royalty, she famously told Prince Charles ‘you’re very sexy’ and gave him a big red lipstick kiss on the cheek and a ‘pat’ on the bum.
On a visit to South Africa in 1997 for a charity concert, she reportedly told Nelson Madela: ‘You’re as young as the girl you feel, and I’m 25.’
Less than two years after Wannabe topped charts, Geri announced she’d had enough and confirmed her departure from the group in May 1998 in the middle of their world tour.
Her shock decision to leave at the peak of their fame and right before their concerts in the US was never going to go down well, but her move to quit on Mel B’s birthday especially hit a nerve.
Scary Spice didn’t mince her words in a subsequent TV interview, saying: ‘When Geri left the group, it was bad. She left on my birthday and didn’t tell anybody. She didn’t show up. We had the American part of the tour to continue.’
Geri announced she had left the group via her lawyer, claiming that she was suffering from exhaustion and wanted to take a break; however, rumours rumbled that she had come to blows with Mel B.
Mel’s ex-husband Jimmy Gulzar later said that Scary Spice was particularly hurt because they were ‘really, really close’.
He hinted at rumours the pair had once had a fling, saying: ‘Melanie had showed me and told me how close she was with Geri. Melanie and Geri have a relationship with each other that was deeper than a lot of people think.’
With Geri gone from the Spice Girls, her bandmates were not shy about voicing their criticisms about her lack of natural vocal ability.
Sporty Spice even went as far as to call Geri ‘untalented’ during an appearance on the TV show CD:UK in 2003, after presenter Cat Deely asked her about Geri critiquing other pop acts.
‘Does she have the qualifications? What is your opinion?’ Cat asked.
Sporty responded by saying: ‘My personal opinion is that I don’t think that she does, I don’t think she is of a talent.’
Despite the digs, Geri has rejoined the band on several occasions over the years for the purposes of their money-making shows, but it was 2019’s Spice World tour that marked the beginning of the end for Scary and Ginger’s friendship.
The pair clashed over differences in opinion regarding their costumes with Geri, who now only wears cream and has adopted a more wholesome image, wanting to reflect the group’s age and the fact they were all mothers – while Mel B was eager to relaunch herself as an ‘sexy star.’
A source told The Sun in 2019: ‘The gigs will go ahead whatever happens, but those two couldn’t be more divided and both see themselves as the boss. Everyone involved is braced for some epic arguments once they’re back together.’
Victoria Beckham’s decision not to join her pals on stage, seven years after they performed at the London Olympics.
By this time, she had ditched her WAG image and was distancing herself from her Posh Spice image in order to reinvent herself as a serious fashion designer.
At the time a well-placed source revealed to MailOnline, there was a vicious falling-out between the four remaining Spice Girls and Victoria and their former manager, Simon Fuller.
It culminated in a furious text being sent from Mel B to Victoria after she pulled out of the tour, having apparently saying she was fully on board.
Stirring up tensions further, according to the source, was Victoria posing in Spice-inspired outfits for her Vogue shoot earlier the same year, which drove Mel B into a foul-mouthed rage.
A source claimed at the time: ‘The girls are furious with Victoria for initially agreeing to reunite, at one stage she even threatened to go legal if the girls cashed in on the brand minus her.
Mel B then made her feelings known on the subject when she dressed up as Victoria for a Halloween party, holding a sign to indicate that she wouldn’t tour even if the fans begged and added that they have a ‘love hate relationship’.
For her part, Victoria Beckham was said to be ‘furious’ with Mel B for her constant discussion of the Spice Girls reunion – and for making her look like the bad guy.
Sources claimed that the designer ‘never agreed’ to reunite with Mel, Geri Horner, Emma Bunton and Melanie Chisholm for a comeback, and was frustrated with her band mate for making out she is the ‘killjoy’ of the group.
A source said: ‘Victoria was always up for a catch-up and the prospect of a celebration of the band’s work. But going out on the road for concerts was never something she agreed to.’
Several years later, Scary’s ire was again directed at Geri, admitting in a 2022 interview that she classified her bandmate as one of the ‘biggest d***heads in Showbiz.’
During an appearance on Channel 4’s The Big Narstie Show, Mel B said of Geri: ‘I love her to bits but she’s really f***ing annoying.’
Prior to the tour, Mel B caused further upset by revealing on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories that she and Geri enjoyed a lesbian fling during the band’s Nineties heyday.
Sources close to Geri, who’s now married to millionaire Christian Horner and lives with the F1 boss at their 15th century Oxfordshire estate, said the singer was ‘livid’ following Mel B’s claims.
Mel told Piers: ‘She’s going to hate me for this because she’s all posh in her country house with her husband. But it’s a fact. It just happened, and we just giggled at it and that was it.’
Adding that their tryst was a one off, she said: ‘She’s going to kill me and so’s her husband. She’s not that posh now, is she?’
After a week of silence, Geri responded to Mel B’s comments with a statement denying her version of events.
‘It has been very disappointing to read about all these rumors again, especially on Mother’s Day of all days,’ a spokesperson said. ‘Geri loves the Spice Girls: Emma, Melanie, Melanie and Victoria.
‘She would like [the fans] to know that what has been reported recently is simply not true and has been very hurtful to her family. Moving forward, Geri can’t wait to see the girls and all the fans on the tour, have an amazing time with everyone, and make some new memories.’
Scary Spice was slammed for using ‘lesbianism as a PR strategy’ ahead of their reunion tour and following Geri’s reaction, attempted to backpedal on her story.
The women have reportedly squabbled in recent years over Geri’s new ‘la-di-da’ image, which tends to rub Leeds-born Mel up the wrong way.
While Mel B has continued to pursue TV opportunities and will appear in new Netflix reality series Bear Hunt, which airs later this year, Geri has down tools and now spends her days socialising with the upper class, introduced to her by husband Christian, with whom she shares son Montague.
Geri, who’s also a mum to 18-year-old daughter Bluebell, who she shares from her relationship with Sacha Gervasi, has been tested in recent months by Mel’s continued taunts over her age.
Mel told Olivia Attwood on her podcast So Wrong It’s Right that she doesn’t believe Geri has been honest about her age.
She said: ‘No, well no one knows how old Geri is. No one’s seen her passport. I mean, I know we’ve travelled the world, but I still don’t know how old she is. Well, she claims she just had her 50th birthday, but I don’t believe her.’
She rub salt in the wound last Tuesday when Geri turned 52, sharing an unflattering photo of the pair on social media, wishing her pal a ‘Happy 75th Birthday.’
It’s the first time Mel has publicly interacted with Geri since they celebrated Victoria’s 50th birthday in April and it was reported that relations between them were ‘frosty.’
The band thrilled fans as they reunited at Victoria’s celebration, dancing to their hit Stop, which was captured on camera by David Beckham – but in reality, Geri did everything in her power to avoid making amends with Mel.
A source told The Sun: ‘Mel tried to smooth things over with Geri at the party but it didn’t go as planned. She was laughing it all off but Geri didn’t seem interested in hearing what she had to say and wandered off.
‘When it came to taking their group picture, Geri kept as far away from Mel as possible which was awkward to watch.
‘Geri wanted to be there to celebrate Âand have a good laugh with everyone, not talk to Mel about the embarrassing things she’s said about her.’
Shortly after the party in May 2024 several members of the Spice Girls were left ‘furious’ after unflattering details from a conversation emerged in court documents, according to reports.
Mel B, Geri and Emma were said to have been left red-faced after a private conversation between the group was leaked in a defamation case.
In the private conversation between the group was leaked in a defamation case Mel B told bandmates Geri and Emma that ‘charity doesn’t pay the bills’, during an apparent discussion about reuniting for a gig, according to The Sun.
The publication reported that the leaked messages – which were revealed as part of a defamation case in the United States – have infuriated the stars.
There was also apparently a string of emails gossiping about the way Victoria acted at the Viva Forever! West End musical premiere on December 11, 2012.
The fashion designer delayed the curtain call of the West End musical based on the Spice Girls’ biggest hits by 15 minutes after getting stuck in traffic.
Once she arrived, she decided to set separately from the rest of the group, taking her seat two rows behind the other women with her husband David and their kids.
According to the publication’s insider, Victoria’s snub did not go down well with Mel B in particular.
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Source: Tampa Bay Times
