It's not easy to break away from work. Spice World, our second album, is about to be released worldwide, so "promotion" is a word we can't ignore. Soon we will be back to the same old routine: airplanes, limousines, hotels, studios, studios, limousines, airplanes. Singapore, Thailand, India, Hong Kong and Japan. Looking back, I don't know how I didn't collapse from exhaustion. David was so nice, he was always on the other end of the phone and never tired of talking to me. We talk 8, 10 times a day. Although I often just cry.
Escape from "prison" is not that easy, especially when there are always guards watching when you talk to fellow prisoners. That's what it's like to be with Simon. He never let us out of his sight and followed us wherever we went. The media once called him "hot guy", and that was not for nothing. When we came back from Japan, at the entrance of the airport, they told us that there were only 5 first class seats. As part of our recording contract, we always flew first class. This is not a luxury, it is a necessity on all those long trips we take. Now you might think that in that case, the singing group--those five girls--would fly first class, and our planners would back down. No, one of us was kicked out of first class so that Simon could sit there. Who's the one who got kicked out? Me.
When the five of us are together, there is rarely a time when the manager who is always with us is not busy nearby. It’s no wonder we don’t talk.
We returned to the UK at the end of October to prepare for the premiere in our country, and we always had to go to one TV station or radio station after another to promote it. But at least we're home. On the way back, Jace said we should talk to a lawyer before we did anything. Should I do this or should she do it? I said she should do it.
I only stayed at home for a few days and then left again. We couldn't stop the ticking of the "foreign tax-free year" timer, and I didn't even bother to unpack.
You don't have a life, you just have a schedule.
our neighbor jiggs
The first of the male dancers to arrive was Carmine Canuso. He arrived before the others so that we could get used to the moves of the pas de deux, the twists and lifts, but in reality he was my backup dancer.
The idea is that each of us will have a dance partner who will have the same personality as us and wear matching outfits, hence the pouty Camine (pronounced ka---ming---ai) That brand look. He's a very good-looking guy, half-Italian, who grew up in Switzerland. He was wearing black tights and his hair was slicked back. Melanie B's dance partner was Jimmy Gulzar, whom she later married (and later divorced). Jace is also in a relationship with her dance partner, Kristen Storm.
As soon as I saw him I realized that Crescen was actually Crescen Houseford, one of the most favored students at Wren School, and for a time I liked him very much. He said he changed his name because of the Screen Actors Guild. Although I don't seem to have heard of another person named Chester Housford in the industry, but you have to admit that Chester Housford is not as Clay. Stjen Storm is cool.
Then, Emma’s dance partner was Eztaiga Noah, who was small but nimble; Madison Melanie’s dance partner was Rob Nurse, a mixed-race boy. There were two other dancers: Takao Baba (who would be one of my backup dancers three years later in The Walking Dead) and Louise Spence. They just make up the numbers and do stunts, but they can also replace the dance partner of any "hot girl".
I have the best relationship with Caminet and Louis, especially during the tour. They knew how much I missed David and often came into my dressing room to chat with me. Both of them are very good at clothing and can talk about "Gucci" and "Prada" all day long.
We opened on February 24th at The Point in Dublin, where we played for two nights. On Monday, March 2nd, we held our first concert on the European continent in Zurich. I can’t remember any of the tour stops after that. Our last show in Europe is on April 1st in Dortmund. Then it was back to England, back to Manchester. While the other girls stayed at the Victoria and Albert Hotel, I stayed with David at Worsley.
One night, after a long rehearsal during the day, we were lying in bed on the top floor watching a video when Puffy and Snoopy started yelling loudly in the kitchen. "Puffy" and "Snoopy" (short for "Puffy Daddy" and "Snoopy Puppy") were two Rottweiler puppies that David bought me for Christmas that year. Actually, I would rather have a fluffy dog, but David has been pestered by some stalkers, so he said we really should buy a guard dog.
Somehow, the two dogs were doing their guarding work, and I don't know what made them angry. David immediately went to the terrace window, looked into the back garden, and saw a man scaling the fence.
The same thing happened once before when I was not there. The two dogs were also going crazy. "Puffy" and "Snoopy" were in the garden, barking towards the back door. David said that he could just see a man standing behind the door, looking up at the window. So he opened the window and yelled at the man to get lost. However, the man just stood there, staring at him, motionless and doing nothing. Then David realized he was standing there naked - he was in bed when the noise started. So he turned back upstairs and called the police. Within 5 minutes, a helicopter came over the house, three police cars were parked outside, and motorcycles were everywhere. The man was nowhere to be seen.
Apparently, David told me all this, which is why the two dogs are in the house now. Although they look big, they are still just puppies and I don't want anything to happen to them.
This time, we didn't bother the police. Ryan Giggs lived 30 seconds away so David gave him a call and there was another friend who lived about four minutes away.
"Where's the colored pellet gun, David?" I said.
He had recently played this combat game with his teammates, in which you shoot each other with colored projectiles. David was the kind of man who wanted to be fully equipped for whatever he was doing. So he took a gun to their paintball game, but the gun was so powerful that they wouldn't let him use it.
"It's in the top drawer. But don't bother looking for it," he added, "because there are no pellets."
"Why not?"
"I fired on the roof of the next door, and it was all gone."
I still find it funny now, but I didn't laugh then.
Now, Ryan and his friends have arrived. Ryan was holding a baseball bat and the other guy was holding a golf club. David grabbed another golf club from his bag in the lobby. But it was too late, no matter who it was, he had already run away.
I'm very, very scared. I never wanted to stay in that house for another minute, I thought this madman would come back again, anything could happen. We didn't even bother to get dressed. I just put on a track suit over my pajamas, got in the car, and drove to the Victoria and Albert Hotel, where the other girls were staying.
We had just gone to bed, and suddenly I started thinking, what if this madman went back and killed the dogs? Fortunately, Verne and JP were still there, and they volunteered to go back and bring the two dogs over. Since there was nowhere else for Puffy and Snoopy to go, we put them in the hotel shower room overnight.
The next morning, I woke up and heard a loud noise - I didn't understand what was going on: when David got up early for training, he was tiptoeing around like a British Air Force Special Forces. But as soon as I saw what the chaos was about, I started yelling. It was everywhere in the shower, and guess what: on the towels, in the tub, on the floor, on the walls. This is disgusting.
For both of us, Worsley was over. We couldn't go on living in that house. It's not safe at all, and there's nothing you can do to make it safe. Anyway, after what happened, I don't want to live there anymore, even if you dig a trench around the house and fill it with alligators. We decided to find another place, one we could afford as soon as we got married.
Fire Simon
This time I went to South Africa to hold a charity concert for the "Prince Commissioned Charity". If I'm going to be completely honest, before I met Nelson Mandela, I knew next to nothing about him and what he had accomplished, and I knew that was terrible. I excuse myself by saying that my generation, my country, takes freedom for granted.
We went straight from the airport to have tea with the President and his family. Jace and Melanie B went to the bathroom, thinking they wanted something as a souvenir. Obviously they didn't want to steal anything, but there was a plant in the corner of the bathroom, so they tore off five pieces of toilet paper, took some pebbles from his bonsai, and wrapped them in it. One each for good luck.
Perhaps Simon realized that we had become somewhat distant from him - he arranged for our mother to take a break with us - and we went on a hunting trip. We flew south for about two hours from Johannesburg and arrived at an interesting little airstrip just outside Sun City National Safari Park, where we met up with our mother --- and Jace's mother Instead of coming, it was her sister Natalie.
I didn't expect I would have such a great time. That was wonderful. But even here, something is wrong. Where we stayed, as you would expect, we each lived in individual huts. But, do we really need to drive off-road separately? Half the fun of a hunting trip is sharing that experience.
We dumped Simon when he was in New York, bedridden with a back problem that left him completely immobile. It may sound like we are very calculating, but one thing I learned from my game wardens in South Africa is that you have to be ruthless if you want to survive. There is no room for sentimentality in the African wilderness or in the music industry. Either kill or be killed.
A conversation with Jace in the laundry room in France sowed the seed of the idea, and six weeks later, the seed took root. But now, everything is ready. Jace has talked to the lawyers, and the main thing they said is, if we want to do it, we can. But everyone has to be together.
Remember, remember November 5th. November 5, 1997 was the day all my friends came back. We attended the MTV Music Awards in Rotterdam on the 6th. We were sitting in the room together the night before, just like we used to. At first we talked about everything. It's not easy, we know. But no matter how difficult it is, we must be our own boss. We agreed to act immediately. Jace called our London solicitor - it was actually quite late by now and we woke him up. It was two hours before the poor man could go back to sleep. Sleeping was the last thing the 5 of us could think about.
Simon lying in his hospital bed may not be a threat to us, but everyone around us from personal assistants to security guards is employed by "19 Plan", and we have no idea what actions they will take. But we must succeed. We need contact numbers, schedules. Our mobile phones were all given by Simon--so in theory they belong to "Project 19": if they were gone, most of our contact numbers would be gone as well. Jace's notebook is our backup bible.
According to the arrangement, our lawyer will notify the "19 Planning" in London early in the morning. But then they had to tell Simon -- which gave us four hours, unless they woke Simon up in the middle of the night in New York. But it was only a matter of time before Simon called our PA to tell us what had happened. He might tell them, watch your underwear, girls, but also your diaries, cell phones, and anything else that anyone else can get their hands on.
We have to punish her, Jace has the guts. She had taken Camila's phone and hid it in the red and white felt handbag she always carried. Not only was Simon unable to call Camilla, but Camilla's phone also held every call we might need.
We watched the time pass by, and it was almost noon. Now Simon must know. We were rehearsing on stage, and Jace was dancing casually, clutching her felt handbag as if it contained all her worldly possessions. She is like a refugee.
"Ji Rui," a voice came from the control room through the loudspeaker, "rehearse seriously, you have to put down that bag."
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