Earlier this year, there was a lot of speculation about whether or not one of the biggest pop groups of all time would reunite for their 20th anniversary.
It eventually transpired that there would be a reunion, but only three of the Spice Girls members - Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton and Geri Horner (Halliwell) - would take part, with Victoria Beckham and Melanie Chisholm aka Sporty Spice opting out.
While Beckham has kept quiet on the subject, Chisholm has now revealed why she chose not to take part in the reunion plans.
Writing an essay for Love magazine, she said: "The fascination with the band never seems to go away. It’s a blessing and a curse all at the same time. Daily I’m asked ‘are the girls getting back together?’ Then it’s When? How? Why? When we reunited in 2007 the questions stopped momentarily. We had done it – the fans were happy and we were happy. But the minute that tour ended it started again."
She went on to say how she declined the opportunity to reunite after meetings earlier this year.
"Truth be told, earlier this year after several face-to-face meetings with the girls I made the difficult decision not to be part of a proposed reunion with Emma, Geri and Melanie," she said. "Victoria had already bowed out understandably with the demands of her fashion label and her rather large family. The hardest part for me was letting people down, the girls, the fans, civilisation?! Unfortunately something didn’t feel quite right and I had to follow my gut.
"I'd love to play huge arenas across the World, sing our brilliantly bonkers pop songs and relive our former glory. It is, of course, a very lucrative opportunity too. But we were a five-piece band. Didn’t we reach a peak with the Olympics? There's a lot to be said for bowing out on a high note."
She added: "For me the absolute pinnacle of my Spice existence was being watched by a billion people around the globe belting out ‘Spice up Your Life’ on top of a black cab at the 2012 London Olympics. Anything less than the full line-up just didn't feel like we'd be doing justice to the band or the fans."
