Hannah Spearritt was left rocked by tragedy in the past year with her ex-boyfriend's death, health struggles and being left homeless.
The S Club 7 star will be taking to the ice this weekend with professional skater Andy Buchanan as she hopes to put a difficult year behind her. Hannah was left heartbroken over the shocking death of bandmate and ex-boyfriend Paul Cattermole, who died at his Dorset home of natural causes on 6th April 2023, aged just 46.
In a further devastating move for fans of the pop group, it was reported that Hannah is no longer talking to her former bandmates after they "blindsided" her with their decision to go ahead with the reunion tour that had been announced prior to Paul's death. The singer has faced a series of difficulties in recent months including health scares and financial problems, and now the Mirror has taken a look closer at Hannah's recent heartbreak...
Paul Cattermole's death
Hannah's bandmate and former boyfriend Paul died unexpectedly from 'hidden' heart disease in April 2023. His death came just weeks after S Club 7, now known as S Club, had announced their plans for a huge 25th anniversary reunion tour.
Speaking for the first time after Paul's death, Hannah said her former boyfriend was "excited" to perform again as she revealed her bandmate was her "first true love". Hannah and Paul dated for several years during S Club's heyday before breaking up and later rekindling their relationship for a few months in 2015.
Love Island's Ekin-Su 'pushed down stairs by crush' as she recalls bullying hellHannah explained she was happy she got the chance to see Paul and repair their friendship after not seeing each other for several years following their split. "I am grateful to have had that time with him, to make peace with each other," she told The Sun. "Because I know that's all we both ever wanted... To have had that opportunity to see him, and to see him... well, unfortunately, he didn't get to do the tour... He was just so excited for the tour."
Pulling out of reunion tour
Fellow bandmates Jo O’Meara, Rachel Stevens, Tina Barrett, Jon Lee and Bradley McIntosh went ahead with the anniversary tour and paid tribute to Paul on stage, following his death. However, Hannah dropped out of the line-up at the last minute.
After this news was confirmed, reports emerged that Hannah was "blindsided" by the re-launch of the tour. It was claimed the band were no longer on speaking terms with Hannah after rows regarding tour contracts.
It was then reported Hannah was ready to sign the tour contract but was left stunned when Jo, Rachel, Jon, Bradley and Tina filmed a video declaring they would be heading out on tour without her. “Hannah is devastated", a source told The Sun. "She was pushed out, and doesn’t understand why. The rest of S Club has been told not to contact her.”
Explaining her decision to leave the band was to protect her health after she struggled to cope with Paul's passing, she wrote in her memoir, Facing The Music: “I was extremely excited — we all were — to get back as a seven. But then Paul died and everything changed.
"It gave me time to reflect on whether it was the right thing for me to do. I hadn’t been in the best of health — I’ve got a compromised immune system and stress makes it worse. My body just couldn’t cope with everything that was happening. I wasn’t myself."
Though the band have said the door will always be open for Hannah to return, she said: "Will I ever perform with them again? I just don't know. I'm glad that the tour is still going ahead and the songs will live on, but now I'm looking forward, not backwards."
Health battle
Hannah suffers from an autoimmune disease and she recently spoke out on how she was left unable to complete simple tasks such as cook for herself or get on a train. The singer revealed she suffers from symptoms that include chronic fatigue, brain fog and vertigo.
She first noticed the symptoms back in 2013 after having breast implants, but she and her husband Adam Thomas suspect stress and two miscarriages in 2022 trigged the recent debilitating impact of the condition. Hannah told Hello! Magazine: "I don't think I realised how much I'd deteriorated because it happened so gradually, I had no energy and couldn't even get on a train or cook dinner.
"That affected my mental health, too, because I've always been a physical and sporty person, it's only when you get better and can do things you love again that you realise how bad things were." In October, she opened up on the "crippling panic attacks" she was experiencing before quitting the S Club tour.
Holly Willoughby fans stick up for star after trolls slam Dancing on Ice roleHannah, who shares daughters Taya, five, and Tora, three, with Adam, revealed she was able to sign up to Dancing on Ice after receiving treatment from an expert in regenerative medicine, who she said used a serum derived from her own blood to help stabilise her condition.
Homeless at Christmas
In January, 2023, Hannah revealed she was left homeless at Christmas despite S Club's global fame. The '90s pop star – whose band raked in £50million – was forced to rely on living in a friend's office and lived in four temporary homes in the six months prior.
Hannah explained that their landlord needed to sell the property they were renting and because it sold so far, they were left with just two days to find someone new to live. “What screwed us is we didn’t have time to find another place. We had somewhere over Christmas but ran out of time before we could move in. It was just a couple of weeks," she told The Sun. “We were allowed to stay in our friend’s office. We just used it as our living room.”
Rachel Stevens feud
Dancing on Ice bosses are getting ready for a clash between Hannah and her former bandmate Rachel as they vow to keep the two apart when the new series kicks off. Hannah will be skating with Andy when the new series kicks off on Sunday, while comedian Lou Sanders teams up with Brendyn Hatfield, who is dating Hannah's ex-bandmate Rachel.
Rachel and Brendyn got together in 2022 after meeting on the show and striking up a romance away from the ice rink. If Rachel comes to watch Brendyn perform on the live shows, she might bump into Hannah - something ITV bosses are slightly concerned about.
A source spilled to The Sun last week: "Falling on the ice is going to feel warm and painless compared to the cold front that will envelop Dancing On Ice if their paths cross. The best hope is that Hannah and Rachel are kept apart. But given the series lasts for two months and they could both be in the studio at the same time, that's not going to be easy."