Ex-Bardot star Belinda Chapple reveals the BRUTAL way the band found out they were ‘finished’ so Sophie Monk could launch a solo career
Bardot’s debut single, Poison, went straight to the top of the charts, making them the hottest girl band in Australia in the early 2000s.
But as their early success faded, the band members found themselves pushed aside so that breakout star Sophie Monk could pursue a solo career.
Singer Belinda Chapple, 45, revealed on the Back From Reality podcast that finding out her career was over was a brutal experience.
‘We were so blindsided’: Last week, while speaking on the Back From Reality podcast former Bardot star Belinda Chapple(pictured) revealed the brutal way the band found out they were ‘finished’ to launch Sophie Monk’s solo career
‘It happened overnight… we were so blindsided,’ she said of the decision to dissolve Bardot so that Sophie, 40, could go solo.
‘We were ready for years ahead with so many bookings to look forward too and our album was doing really well,’ she added.
Belinda apparently discovered her managers had plans for Sophie’s career when she accidentally stumbled across a stack of CDs for Sophie’s solo album.
‘I wasn’t meant to see it,’ she said.
Brutal: Belinda revealed she’d been done a phone interview from the band’s managers office where she accidentally stumbled across a stack of CD’s that were for Sophie Monk’s (pictured) solo album. ‘I wasn’t meant to see it,’ she explained
Belinda confronted the management team to find out what was going on.
‘They couldn’t look me in the eye. I said, “You’re going to tell me now what all this stuff is? What are you guys doing? Is she doing a side project?”‘
She was sent home and the band was called in for a meeting the next day.
Drama! Belinda was sent home and the band was called in for a meeting the next day. He just sat us down and said “It’s over… Bardot’s over. That’s it”,’ she said. Pictured left to right, Katie Underwood, Sally Polihronas, Sophie Monk, Tiffani Wood and Belinda Chapple in 2000)
‘He just sat us down and said “It’s over… Bardot’s over. That’s it,”‘ she said.
While Belinda and the other band members, Sally Polihronas, Katie Underwood and Tiffani Wood, have mostly stayed out of the spotlight following the group’s split in 2002, Sophie’s career has gone from strength to strength.
The blonde stunner has appeared in Hollywood movies, including Date Night and Click, hosted two seasons of Love Island Australia and was the Bachelorette in 2017.
Star: While her bandmates have stayed out of the spotlight following the split, Sophie’s career has gone from strength-to-strength. The blonde stunner has appeared in Hollymovie movies including Date Night and Click, hosted two seasons of Love Island Australia and had a successful stint as the Bachelorette in 2017
Bardot’s former manager David Caplice claimed in April that the band split following an ‘explosive’ backstage bust-up before their Mardi Gras performance in 2002.
‘I remember the girls became very adversarial to each other towards the end, when envy and infighting was out of control,’ he told News.com.au.
‘It wasn’t that particular performance that heralded the end for me – it was the blow-up backstage at the Mardi Gras prior to their 2am headline performance that really shocked everybody.
‘That explosive encounter was the death blow for the band… Bardot could have been the biggest girl band in the world.’
The band members later denied that any altercation took place, saying David’s claim was simply ‘not true’.
Allegations: Meanwhile, their former manager David Caplice claimed in an interview with News.com.au in April that the group split following an ‘explosive’ backstage bust-up before their Mardi Gras performance in 2002. The band has denied the claim (Bardot pictured at the Mardi Gras)