Nicola Roberts on Sarah Harding: “She was fully who she was all the time”

Nicola Roberts has reflected on her Girls Aloud bandmate, the late Sarah Harding, recalling how “vivacious and full of life” she was.

Speaking to Jordan Stephens on the first episode of season two of The Red Carpet Treatment podcast, Roberts was asked if the loss of Harding brought the rest of her bandmates closer together.

“I think that what we went through as a five was massive in itself. That bonds you in ways where, even with your own siblings, you don’t really get that 24/7,” she replied. “To go through something where you lost part of you is on a completely different scale. Life is so fragile. It’s fragile for anybody, it doesn’t matter who you are or what you do.”

Be yourself, not your idea of what you think someone else’s idea of yourself is ? @BRITs @jordanfstephens pic.twitter.com/PayIZo46H5

— Nicola Maria Roberts (@NicolaRoberts) August 9, 2023

Nicola Roberts and Sarah Harding of Girls Aloud during Shockwaves NME Awards 2007 - Media Room at Hammersmith Palais in London. Credit: Richard Lewis/GETTY — Nicola Roberts and Sarah Harding of Girls Aloud during Shockwaves NME Awards 2007 – Media Room at Hammersmith Palais in London. Credit: Richard Lewis/GETTY

Roberts recalled Harding’s authenticity and how she never tried to be anyone but herself. “Even going back to that BRITs moment, like, how vivacious and full of life and she was so, talking about authenticity, Sarah very much was authentic in who she was. Didn’t try to be anyone else, never tried to turn herself down, and wasn’t even aware of the fact that she should maybe do that in certain settings,” she shared.

She continued: “She was fully who she was all the time. And that, in itself, is an achievement because so often, we’re like, shaped in a certain way. Or, if you’re a sensitive person, you pick up on little social nuances that you probably shouldn’t say this, probably shouldn’t do that. She was fully who she was all the time. And for that, I always admired her.”

Harding died in September 2021, aged 39, after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

Kimberley Walsh, Nicola Roberts, Nadine Coyle, Cheryl Cole and Sarah Harding of Girls Aloud perform on stage on the first night of their “Girls Aloud – The Hits Tour 2013” tour, at the Metro Radio Arena on February 21, 2013. Credit: Dave J Hogan/Getty

Elsewhere in the chat, Roberts reflected on the fact that Girls Aloud were one of the biggest-selling girl group of the 21st century, sharing that it was quite “far-fetched” as they were five normal girls with no musical background who “just somehow managed to go to the moon together”.

Back in June, Girls Aloud’s debut ‘Sound Of The Underground’ was reissued in celebration of its 20th anniversary.

Last year, Roberts revealed that, over the past year, the group had raised more than £1million in funds for breast cancer charities in honour of Harding.