SEPTEMBER 2004

30.09.2004 Geri Injures Knee

SINGER Geri Halliwell puts on a brave face as she climbs into a car yesterday — nursing a poorly knee.

The ex-Spice Girl, 32, suffered a sprain when she fell while rehearsing an energetic dance routine to accompany her new single Ride It.

Geri smiled outside her London home. But a pal said: “It’ll take weeks to recover.”


23.09.2004 You need a hit, Geri 

GERI Halliwell hopes to make her pop comeback with the official single for Children In Need. 

The ex-Spice Girl, 32, is battling Girls Aloud for the honour of being picked by BBC bosses to release the charity song. 

Geri has two tunes lined up - her new single Ride It and another song Feel The Fear. 

Girls Aloud have done a cover of I'll Stand By You - a 1994 hit for the Pretenders. 

A record industry insider said: "The Children in Need single is really high profile and is such a good cause that the artist usually ends up at No1. 

"It would be a fantastic start for Geri to make her comeback but she will have to use all her girl power to battle Girls Aloud." 

This November's Children In Need will mark the charity telly bonanza's 25th anniversary.

Source: The Sun

20.09.2004 Geri is in the Pink

Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell has put on a spectacular show at the Tickled Pink concert in aid of Breast Cancer Care. 

The 32-year-old star opened her live set at the Royal Albert Hall in London with her new single Ride It. 


She followed with It's Raining Men and a medley of Look At Me and Cabaret - and even managed a costume change. 

An audience member said: "There was a lot of disappointment at George Michael not being able to perform but Geri really got the crowd going. 

"She sang live and was surprisingly good." 

20.09.2004 Tickled Ginger

Go Geri, go! It seems Ms Halliwell's singing lessons are paying off at last. The former Spice, 32, put on a spectacular show at the Royal Albert Hall in London yesterday, singing live at the Tickled Pink event in aid of Breast Cancer Care. 

The 32-year-old opened her set with new single Ride It, swiftly followed by It's Raining Men and a medley of Look At Me and Cabaret - even bothering with a costume change. 

An audience member told us: "There was a lot of disappointment at George Michael not being able to perform but Geri really got the crowd going. 

"She sang live and was surprisingly good."

Source: The Mirror

17.09.2004 George Pulls Out Of Geri's Concert

George Michael has been forced to pull out of a breast cancer charity gig hosted by Geri Halliwell because of an attack of laryngitis. 

Sunday's concert at the Royal Albert Hall, in support of the charity Breast Cancer Care, features the likes of chart-topper Natasha Bedingfield and Lisa Stansfield, as well as the former Spice Girl, who is patron of the charity. 

Tom Jones and Jools Holland are also performing on stage together at the Tickled Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Concert, with other singers Lemar, Beverley Knight, and Ronan Keating. 

George, 41, and the former Spice Girl fell out a couple of years ago but have since made up. He lost his mother to cancer several years ago and is making a donation to the charity. 

His spokeswoman said: "He's devastated to miss the show that Geri has organised after all the hard work she's put into it and, in recognition of that, is going to donate £50,000 to the charity, as he's not able to be there in person." 

It has also emerged that a stalker managed to get inside Michael's house and live under the floorboards for four days. 

Source: ITV News


14.09.2004 Geri Takes Up Golf To Boost Bust

Ex-Spice Girl, Geri Halliwell is petrified her dramatic weight loss will leave her with droopy breasts, so has taken up golf to keep them firm.

The 32-year-old singer has regained her former curvy shape after looking almost skeletal last year, but she wants to make sure her breasts stay perky and is practicing golf during breaks from recording her third album, due out early next year.

An insider reveals, "Geri just loves having her voluptuous body back, but now she has big boobs again she doesn't want them to droop.

"She loves playing golf, as like yoga, she finds it very relaxing."

Experts say that a golf swing strengthens pectoral muscles and thus makes the bust more firm. 

Source: ContactMusic


08.09.2004 It's A Drought

Geri Halliwell has written a song about her long list of ex-lovers, seeking revenge for all the heartache they've caused her. 

"Any ex will be looking at it going, 'I hope that one's not me'," she tells this month's Glamour magazine. The track, which will appear on his forthcoming album, is all about giving up on the search for Mr Right, although she promises she's changed the names to protect people's identity.

"There was Peter, he was a cheater / Who couldn't keep his hands to himself / There was Ritchie, well he got bitchy / So I left him there on the shelf / And there was David, when he got naked / He didn't have much up or downstairs / So I give up on love / I don't give a fuck / What can I do? / Just when I've found the one/And I think love's begun/It's fallen through." 

To read the full interview, check out the October issue of Glamour, on sale tomorrow.

Source: Glamour

08.09.2004 Geri: O'Connell Was A Mistake

Former Spice Girl, Geri Halliwell has broken her silence on her short-lived relationship with Hollywood actor Jerry O'Connell.

The 32-year-old singer met O'Connell while filming forthcoming movie Fat Slags in London last year (03), before the pair went their separate ways after returning to Los Angeles.

However, Kangaroo Jack star O'Connell was less than complimentary about their split when he recently said, "It was nice to have a tour guide who knows where they are going in London."

But Halliwell puts the brief nature of their encounter down to not being right for each other.

She says, "He was a great guy, but (we were) not compatible. Sometimes we have to try on wool before we get cashmere." 

Source: Contact Music


08.09.2004 Sexy Geri Looking Swell

Striding out confidently in tight, cropped jeans and a revealing slashed top, Geri Halliwell recently unveiled a tanned but ample midriff. 

She is clearly proud of her new fuller figure and is happy to enhance it in skimpy figure-hugging clothes. 

It is a far cry from the emaciated image of protruding hip bones, flat chest and scrawny arms which she chose to promote her autobiography and pop video for It's Raining Men just three years ago. 

Now oozing a healthy self-confidence, the former Spice Girl admits gaining a few pounds has boosted her waistline — and sex appeal. 

Geri, 32, says: "When I was skinny it was like a desert. But the minute I got a few pounds on me, it changed. I'm quite shocked, actually, with the kind of attention I receive."

At July's Party In The Park event, Prince Charles was one of the first to compliment her on her new shape. 

He said: "You look great — much better now you've put weight on."

And Glamour magazine has chosen Geri as its current cover girl. 

Editor Jo Elvin says: "She seems genuinely happy with the shape she's in at the moment. She looks normal but she looks fantastic — and I think that's really important. 

"Our readers want to see someone on the cover that they can aspire to, but in a realistic way. There needs to be an attainability and I think that's the case with Geri."

Currently weighing a healthy 9st and measuring a curvy size 12, Geri is clearly on an even keel both physically and emotionally. 

The most notorious yo-yo dieter in showbusiness, her most severe weight losses and gains have previously coincided with her tumultuous love life and career highs and lows. 

Before leaving the Spice Girls in 1998, the 5ft 2in star gained a stone because she was unhappy. 

Her weight levelled off when she launched her solo career a year later, but began to plummet after her disastrously short-lived romance with Chris Evans. 

Geri's yoga-toned 7st figure coincided with the release of her second No1 album in May 2001. 

Before its release she wrote in her diary: "I am scared that my chart position will decide my self-esteem. Maybe I'm terrified of failure because success defines who I am." 

Desperate to maintain her new skinny frame, she embarked on a gruelling regime which included running six miles a day between yoga sessions and eating only steamed vegetables and chicken. 

It is no coincidence that her skinniest episodes coincided with her doomed affairs with recovering drink and drug addict Damian Warner and Robbie Williams. 

Last November Geri began dating US actor Jerry O'Connell, her co-star in new film Fat Slags, and she positively glowed with health. 

But after he dumped her a month later, she has put on more weight. She now seems content, adding recently: "I've gained weight but feel really healthy. I feel sexier with a little bit more flesh on my bones."

The journey back to health and happiness has been long and arduous. 

Geri first became anorexic and bulimic a decade ago — six months before joining the Spice Girls. 

During her time in the group, she existed on nothing more nutritious than noodles and boiled carrots. 

These days she is clearly in favour of a more balanced diet. 

Sun nutritionist Amanda Ursell says: "When Geri was doing all the yoga, she was clearly below her body weight."

"It's nice to see she has put on weight because it's better for her bones. The fact she's happy with her body also sends out the right message to girls." 

Despite her new-found confidence, Geri admits she has all but given up trying to find Mr Right. 

She says: "I've been out with guys where I felt I had to be a showpiece. There was a lot of dressing up and going out. 

"But actually I'm a couch potato. I don't want to have to try all the time. I just want to be myself." 

"I'm going to have children at some point. But I want to enjoy this time as a young, free individual without any responsibility.

Source: The Sun

07.09.2004 Geri: More Curves Equals More Dates

It is a discovery which comes as a surprise to nobody except Geri Halliwell herself. 

Since giving up her strict diet and regaining her curvaceous figure, men are suddenly much more interested in her. 

"When I was skinny, it was like a desert," revealed 32-year-old Geri. 

"And the minute I got a few pounds on me, it changed. I'm quite shocked, actually, with the kind of attention I receive.'" 
In July, Prince Charles complimented the singer on her appearance when they met backstage at the Party in the Park concert. 

"You look great - much better now you've put weight on," he told her. 

Watford-born Geri's love-life and weight have gained more attention than her recording career since she quit the Spice Girls in 1998. 

She had several failed relationships with men, including Robbie Williams and Chris Evans. 

During her time in the band, she was a size ten-12 and weighed around nine stone. 

She started to shed the pounds soon after her departure, enduring yoga workouts every day and at one point slimming down to a tiny seven stone, wearing size six clothes. 

Over the last year or so she has slowly regained her curves and is now a perfect size ten, weighing just over eight stone. 

She also appears to have won her battle with various eating disorders including bulimia. 

"When I hit 30 I stopped trying to control things," she said. 

"I'm more accepting. I stopped trying to be perfect - that's the big difference. It was so black or white with me. It was either full throttle or nothing. Now I realise life is a bit of both." 

Geri attends regular Overeaters' Anonymous sessions in Los Angeles, where she is now based, and says this helps her maintain a healthy relationship with food. 

"For me, it's really important to eat enough," she told Glamour magazine. "Sometimes I eat junk food, sometimes I don't. But I don't let it make or break me. 

"I try not to have my self-esteem wrapped into what my body looks like. At the moment, it's not bad. I'm grateful for it. It works, I can run, I can jump, I can play. 

"Whether I'm as thin as a rake or round as a pudding, I have to walk in this body. I have to live in it, so I may as well appreciate it." 

Despite her current success with the opposite sex, Geri insists she is resigned to the single life - and has little hope of true love. 

"I've given up finding The One," she said. "I've been out with guys where I felt I had to be a showpiece. There was a lot of dressing up and going out. 

"And, actually I'm a couch potato. I don't want to have to try all the time. I just want to be myself." 

However, she insists she still hopes for a family. 

"I'm going to have children at some point. But I want to enjoy this time as a young, free individual without any responsibility." 

Source: Daily Mail