Exclusive: Rachel Stevens on rediscovering the magic of S Club and why she feels ‘so vulnerable’ sharing her life story
With an outlook as sunny as the songs she performs with S Club, HELLO! meets Rachel Stevens, 46, on the set of our exclusive Digital Cover shoot in partnership with Estée Lauder.
Warm and engaging, she radiates positivity. With her youthful glow it’s hard to believe the band have been celebrating their 25th anniversary with a reunion tour and their first new single in more than 20 years, These Are the Days, released in July in memory of bandmate Paul Cattermole.
“It’s been lovely coming back together again with a different perspective: older and wiser. The reception has been amazing – there’s so much love for S Club and the nostalgia and how the music takes people back to a lovely time in their lives.”
Rachel Stevens is our latest Digital Cover star, in partnership with Estée Lauder
“We did lots of meet and greets on tour and the fans bring their children along now. We hear stories of how we’ve helped them through experiences growing up, and we didn’t hear any of that back in the day.
“It’s been really special, really lovely. We were so 100 miles an hour the first time – I was 19 and Jon was only 16, we were babies! Everything was so fast.”
During this time S Club Juniors were created as a support act to join S Club 7’s 2001 Carnival Tour, kickstarting the careers of Frankie Bridge and Rochelle Humes, now TV presenters, entrepreneurs and social media stars in their own rights.
Rachel reminisces on meeting them: “We did the tour together and I remember thinking they were really cute but everything was so focused on what we were doing as a band that we didn’t see them much. We keep in touch now, I saw Frankie the other night and Rochelle I see every now and again. They’re lovely, they’re flying in their careers.”
Discussing the most recent reunion with S Club and the bond she shares with bandmates Jon, Bradley, Tina and Jo, Rachel smiles, telling HELLO!: “I’d say we’re so mature now, but we’re not! What we do isn’t serious so we always have fun, the old banter is still there and we all get each other, respect each other, and we just have a laugh.
“We’re all so different – that’s the magic of S Club, us being so different and so unique, and it works. We’re going to Dubai at the end of the year for a gig and perhaps we’ll do some more festivals next year.
“The reaction has been so joyful and fun and we need more of that in the world. My solo set at Mighty Hoopla (this summer) was amazing, and the audience were so happy, you could really feel it. I love being around that energy of love, kindness and joy: that’s what’s important in life.”
Asked what fans can expect next, Rachel shares: “We’d like to create a new experience – the tour was a celebration and then we did festivals which we’d never done before. Never say never to new music, but people always want to hear the hits.”
Rachel shares how her approach to beauty has changed since the original S Club 7 days: “I’ve always loved beauty and makeup. Being in a pop group in the 90s and 00s you’d just play and have fun with it – there was blue eyeshadow, I mean why?! And hair mascara! And what my brows have been through… they’ve been on a journey!
“My daughter (Amelie, 13) is similar as she likes to experiment – she’ll use lemon juice to lighten her hair in the sun, and she’s always making potions. As I’m getting older I’m realising that beauty is from the inside out. Makeup is fun but it’s also about working on how you feel inside. I find it interesting to learn about new treatments, but when it comes to makeup I always go back to the classics that I love and that always work.
“It’s about enhancing what you have instead of covering it or trying to change how you look. I’ve been using Estée Lauder for years, it’s a classic heritage brand with great, natural-looking makeup. I go back to it time and time again.
“Today I’m wearing the Double Wear Stay-in-Place Makeup SPF 10 Foundation, the Double Wear Zero Smudge Mascara and the Bronze Goddess Powder Bronzer which is a lovely tone. The Double Wear Concealer’s great, it’s such good coverage and doesn’t clog or dry out your skin.”
As the number one-selling prestige foundation in the UK*, Estée Lauder’s Double Wear has become an icon of modern makeup. Available in 60 shades, the fresh matte, waterproof and oil-free makeup controls shine all day and is sweat-, heat- and humidity-resistant, offering 24-hour colour-true coverage you can trust.
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Asked about her approach to beauty when not appearing on stage or at events, Rachel confides: “As I get older I need more coverage in certain areas but I like feeling like I’m not wearing much, but still elevated and put together. I’ll put some tan drops into my moisturiser before I go to bed and then just wear an SPF tinted moisturiser, some mascara and lipgloss at the weekend.”
As mother to Amelie and Minnie, 10, who she shares with ex-husband Alex Bourne, Rachel admits that social media and its projected beauty ideals can be hard to navigate. “It’s so incredibly challenging being a parent now with social media. It’s a huge conversation and something that I’m really passionate about.
“My 10-year-old hasn’t got any social media but my eldest does. As parents we’ve always been really strict with it and monitored her use, but now we’re all seeing the impact of social media, and even as adults we have to be disciplined about our time spent on it.
“For kids it’s a world of everything opened up to them too young. I do think it needs to be banned until they’re 16. You have insecurities at that age and you’re still trying to find yourself. It’s a minefield, and we’re all learning on the job.”
In June Rachel released her autobiography Finding My Voice: A Story of Strength, Self-Belief and S Club, opening up about life in the spotlight and the challenges she’s overcome for the first time.
“It was intimidating to write the book, and there were moments I felt so vulnerable. I was really mindful of the people I was talking about and I’m naturally very private, but I think it’s so important to share and show that we all have the same vulnerabilities.
“It sounds like a cliché but if one person reads it and feels I’ve helped them then that’s a really positive thing.”
“We’re all a constant work in progress and still finding our way, so it’s a book about that. For a long time I didn’t really know what my voice was so it was the perfect title. Being in the band from the age of 19, sometimes I’d feel a bit like a deer in the headlights. I lost a sense of who I was and what I could and couldn’t say.
“I’d be censoring and filtering, it was a confusing time. There were lots of wonderful, exciting joyful times but it was also something to navigate. I felt a pressure to have an opinion and look a certain way – it’s a pressure that we all put on ourselves, but when you’re doing it in the public eye there’s that added level.”
After the band’s original hiatus in 2003, Rachel enjoyed a successful solo career with hits such as Sweet Dreams My L.A. Ex and Some Girls. She also competed in Strictly Come Dancing in 2008 and Dancing on Ice in 2022.
Asked about her experience transforming into different characters for each show, she tells HELLO!: “With Dancing on Ice I was just terrified the whole time! With Strictly I was also scared and I remember thinking how it was so different to anything I’d ever done before, but as it went on and I got more into it, I started helping design my costumes.
“I’m very into shapes and fabrics and how things fit and the little details. If I watch any of my performances back now I remember how I really loved my costumes. I love fashion and for me it’s an expression of who I am. They have such a great team there, so it was fun getting involved with the creative process.”
Looking to the future, Rachel confides that “The last year has been wonderful but crazy with travelling, the tour, S Club and my book, and trying to fit that in with kids and life. Now I want to look at creating things that I love.
“I’m really excited to start building things that I’m passionate about and that are mine. I want to create my own fashion range, that’s something that’s been bubbling away for a while.”
Being 5’1”, Rachel explains: “There’s such a gap in the market for us petites, so I’d like to focus on that and show all women that we can wear anything, it’s about proportions.
“I’m obsessed with interiors too. For the last few years I’ve been renting and moving around which has been great, but I’m looking to make a home, have a base and settle. Once you’ve got your foundations sorted everything else can fall into place.”
With her always-upbeat approach and newly discovered confidence, we’re sure of that.
*Source: Circana Group (UK) Ltd. Retail Tracking Service. Prestige Makeup Foundation by Product, April 2023 – March 2024, unit and value sales.
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