Billie Piper has revealed that she struggles to remember her days as a chart-topping pop star, after ‘burying the stress’ from those days.
The singer-turned-actress, 37, burst onto the pop scene back in 1998 at the tender age of 15 with her debut chart-topping hit Because We Want To.
And the mother-of-three has only now started to look back over those days as she prepares to hit screens as the protagonist in upcoming series I Hate Suzie, which sees her portray a singer-turned-actress who’s now a mother.
Struggle: Billie Piper has revealed that she struggles to remember her days as a chart-topping pop star, after ‘burying the stress’ from those days. Pictured in February
She told the Radio Times of tapping into her character: ‘I know exactly what that feels like and I’m sure it feeds into my performance. I’m only coming to terms with a lot of it right now.
‘In my 20s a lot of my stress from that period was buried, and I still struggle to remember a lot of it. I don’t regret it. I love what I do and where I’m at personally.
‘But I certainly wouldn’t want my children to go that way. There’s an anxiety of me as a child that I probably on some levels smother my children with.’
Rise to fame: The singer-turned-actress, 37, burst onto the pop scene back in 1998 at the tender age of 15 with her debut chart-topping hit Because We Want To. Pictured in 2000
Billie, who shares sons Winston, 11, and Eugene, eight, with ex-husband Laurence Fox, and has 19-month-old daughter Tallulah with Johnny Lloyd, has collaborated with her best friend, Succession writer Lucy Prebble on the I Hate Suzie.
And Lucy insists that while viewers may be led to believe that some elements of the titular character may have been drawn from Billie’s life, they actually drew inspiration from other stars who found fame as young girls.
‘We talked a lot about Lily Allen, Charlotte Church, Britney Spears,’ said Lucy, ‘people who suddenly became visible and were quite psychologically affected by it. So it’s not even Billie we’re drawing on, it’s looking at it in quite a winking way.’
When asked if she now feels like she’s finally getting to know herself now, Billie responded: ‘Yes! I do. And it’s both enlightening and really terrifying but it’s happening now.
Successful career: The Swindon-born star enjoyed a successful career as s a singer before crossing over to acting. Pictured in 2000
‘As a woman, you are so many things to so many people, it takes a long time to find your way back to yourself. The last few months have been bonkers and we’re tired… But I do feel fulfilled and I’m looking forward to feeling it a bit more.’
Billie’s interview comes after she revealed that she thinks social media is ‘terrifying’ as it has amplified the worst elements of fame.
The actress and singer has said she would hate to be in the limelight now because of the pressures of online platforms.
‘Let’s put it this way, I wouldn’t have wanted to be a famous pop star now. The social media element of it all is terrifying because it’s continuous, it’s in your bed, next to your bedside table every night,’ she told The Sunday Times’ Culture magazine.
Worries: Billie recently revealed that she thinks social media is ‘terrifying’ as it has amplified the worst elements of fame
She added: ‘In my pop career there were moments that were horrible to experience as a teenager, but they came and went.
Out now: Read Billie Piper’s full interview in the latest issue of the Radio Times, out now
‘But the thought of having that constantly on your person – I wear my phone round my neck like some weird slave – and with one simple click you’re able to see what millions of people think about you or other people, or just about anything… I would argue that it’s got worse.’
Billie also spoke about the 2014 iCloud hack which saw several celebrities’ private pictures surface online, and although she wasn’t impacted by the leak, she said she could relate to the situation.
The Secret Diary of a Call Girl star said: ‘I don’t know what that’s like [having pictures stolen], but I certainly know what it means to live your life publicly. I’ve done that since I was 14.
‘What’s really interesting and slightly depressing is on some level we all do that now – everybody has an online profile and everything you do on some level could be seen to be incriminating, even if it’s actually quite innocent.’
Read Billie Piper’s full interview in the latest issue of the Radio Times, out now.
Ex factor: Billie shares two sons Winston James, 11, and Eugene Pip, eight. with ex Laurence (pictured together in 2014), from whom she split in 2016
Happy couple: The star has been dating musician Johnny Lloyd since 2016 and they share daughter Tallulah, who was born in January 2019