Girls Aloud’s Nicola Roberts gets emotional over late Sarah Harding
Nicola Roberts has got emotional recalling her late bandmate Sarah Harding.
Sarah tragically passed away in September 2021, after being diagnosed with breast cancer. The singer was just 39 years old at the time.
Now, two years on from the death of her Girls Aloud bandmate, Nicola has been getting honest about how she has been coping.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain earlier today, the 37-year-old fought back tears as she opened up about Sarah.
'It's unbelievably conflicting, and I have to somewhat emotionally switch off to get through the chat. From something so heartbreaking we are here to speak about something so hopeful. You have to focus on pushing forward or you fall apart. It's harrowing,” she confessed.
As per Sarah’s last wishes, Nicola is raising awareness for Breast Cancer Risk Assessment in Young Women (BCAN-RAY). The new project, funded by the Sarah Harding Cancer Appeal, will ask 750 women to take several health tests to check for gene mutations.
Describing her late bandmate as “authentic”, the Love Machine hitmaker then went on to express the importance of cancer research.
“For her, for her mum at home, her family and friends, she'd already created a legacy in her performances, and her singing and songs. But then to add this scenario of such magnitude to her legacy – and we can take that baton for her – was so important for her, and it's so important to us,” she explained.
Lastly, Nicola was asked how she has been coping with her heartbreaking loss.
“I think that everybody deals with grief in different ways. For me it's still not really that real. A lot of the time I'm like, ‘She's in Thailand with her friends or in Ibiza,’ but then I realise that it's not real,” she admitted.
In December 2022, it was confirmed that the remaining Girls Aloud bandmates – Nicola, Kimberley Walsh, Nadine Coyle and Cheryl – had raised over £1 million for breast cancer research, with the stars vowing to continue raising awareness.
