ASHLEY Roberts has revealed her schedule was so intense in the Pussycat Dolls that she was rushed to hospital over fears she was having a brain aneurysm.
The singer was made to work so much that her body started “shutting down” and she had to have an MRI scan – then contracted viral arthritis.
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Speaking about the horror impact on her body of her time in the chart-topping group, Ashley said: “The thing was, being in a girl band, we make people a lot of money so there was, the schedule was outrageous.
“I’m not going to lie, by the end I was breaking down. I was in the hospital.
“They thought I was having a brain aneurysm. I think it was just from going, going, going and my body was just shutting down really.
“I remember being in the hospital, I was actually here in London, and I was like, ‘I’ve got to go to Germany, I’ve got to get on a plane now’. I was like, ‘I’ve got a show to do’.
“As I was walking to get the MRI because they thought I was having a brain aneurysm, my knee locked up and I got this viral arthritis so I couldn’t bend my knee.
“The doctor was like, ‘I think you need to just rest’. It’s wild.”
Ashley, 40, was in the group alongside Nicole Scherzinger, Carmit Bachar, Kimberly Wyatt, Jessica Sutta and Melody Thornton from 2003 to 2010.
The group had a string of huge hit singles including Don’t Cha, Stickwitu, Beep, When I Grow Up and Jai Ho.
They reunited in 2019 and had planned to tour across the globe although those plans have since been cancelled due to a row between Nicole and the group’s founder Robin Antin.
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But said she was left feeling lost when they split the first time and she had to try and work out who she was again.
She explained: “We were on the road for eight years pretty much solid, and then spat out the other end and I was like, ‘Who am I without this identity in the group?’
“I actually went and sat with this guru, I was on a journey. I was doing mantras, I was doing yoga and taking different acting classes and trying to figure out who I was and to get that passion back for the arts and creativity, because I just felt burnt out.”
Ashley now lives in London and works on the Heart breakfast show and doesn’t see herself returning to the US soon.
She said she is even planning to sell her house there altogether.
Asked if she misses the US, she told Jamie Laing on his Private Parts podcast: “Not a lot. My community and my work is thriving over here and I’ve got such a great group of friends.
“Great things are happening over here. I’ve still got my home in LA although I think I might sell it.
“Not because I’m not going to go back to LA, I don’t know, I just feel better over here. I like it.
“I miss my mom and I miss the lifestyle in LA because it’s nice to go out and go hiking in the sunshine and all that, but I don’t know. The UK’s been good to me.
“When I first started working over here outside of the Dolls, I was like, ‘I’m just temporarily hanging out here’, I was like, ‘I’m going to go back to LA, that’s where it’s at’.
“But the more time I’ve spent here, my community of people and friends has grown and grown and grown, where it was lacking in LA.
“Community is vital about your overall wellbeing. Having friends is nice!”
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