Geri Horner, 51, reveals her 30s were ‘the most challenging time’ of her life as she felt pressure to ‘tick boxes’ and it wasn’t until her 40s she got her ‘bravado’ back

Geri Horner has revealed that she found her 30s 'the most challenging time' as she felt like she wasn't 'ticking the boxes' that everyone else around her was.

The singer, 51, recalled feeling like she was late in finding love and feeling like she was falling behind as she looked around and saw her friends moving on with their lives.

Speaking about the Reign with Josh Smith podcast, Geri talked about how her forties ended up being a more fulfilling decade than when she got her 'bravado' back.

She said: “I certainly don't have all the answers. I'm still learning and growing because what happens is you move into different chapters in your life and encounter different challenges. I think when we're younger there's a little bit of teenage bravado that you can kind of fake.

“It's almost like a Batman suit, like, 'I'm going to put on some lipstick and a nice cleavage, and off I go.' But then I think in your late twenties you start to run out of bravado, especially in the thirties for me, this was my experience.

Geri Horner has revealed she found her 30s 'the most challenging time' as she felt like she wasn't 'ticking the boxes' that everyone around her was (pictured in December 2023)

The singer, 51, recalled feeling like she was late in finding love and feeling like she was falling behind as she looked around and saw her friends moving on with their lives (pictured in January 2005)

'For anyone in their 30s, I found this to be the most challenging time because I was looking at the world around me and everyone else was ticking boxes and I was a little bit behind in finding love or getting that whole life plan that society has given us shows. .

“I thought, 'oh, I haven't quite got that sorted out yet,' and I don't have that kind of ingenious young stuff going on anymore. I think the 1930s were quite difficult and I'd say it started to move in a much more grounded direction in my 40s, if I'm being completely honest.

'Because that kind of self-confidence, that teenage bravado, that is lost in the 1930s, comes back in the 1940s through life experience. You think, 'you know what, how important is it?' You have some perspective, and I tell my younger siblings who are out in the world that there is always something new and different coming. Getting older is okay, that's how we do it.'

Geri delves deeper into aging and says she doesn't think people should ever let their age stop them from pursuing their dreams.

A recent experience with Dame Judi Dench has inspired the singer to return to one of her first loves: acting, which she now hopes to pursue further.

She said: 'Dame Judi Dench, I love her. She discussed Shakespeare with me and I started talking to her. I learned a piece from the Merchant of Venice and I read through it and she started saying it with me: 'The quality of mercy is not compromised.' blah blah.

'And I thought, 'oh my God, I'm doing Shakespeare with Dame Judi Dench, my life is, my cup is full!' That's pretty amazing. Speaking of acting, the other thing I can share with you or anyone watching is this: It's never too late to dream.

“You can have different dreams because before music I studied English literature and theater and it was a few years ago and I was working on the book but I thought I really wanted to get back into acting.

'I studied it for a while and I started putting myself up for auditions and I recently did some acting work and it was a really positive experience. It was scary but I'm really glad I did it because it says you…

Geri said: 'I think in your late twenties you start to run out of bravado, especially in the thirties for me, this was my experience' (pictured in November 2003)

She added: “I found this to be the most challenging time because I was looking at the world around me and everyone else was ticking boxes and I was a bit behind” (pictured in December 2003)

“There are so many ways we can marginalize ourselves, whether it's our gender, our race or how old we are. I'm on my path and I'm not doing this perfectly, but we get to grow different seasons and do different things.”

Elsewhere during the interview, Geri talked about the death of her father Laurence in 1993.

The star used the experience of his death in her children's book Rosie Frost and the Falcon Queen, in which she recalled being taken out of class and told the news.

She said: “I think writing is a great way to get it out, whatever is going on. And there have been a few moments in my life when I felt lonely because I didn't know how to express what I was feeling, or with whom, or what was appropriate.

'So there are a few themes that I use as ingredients for Rosie (Frost and The Falcon Queen), for example she loses her mother and when I was younger I lost my father. Literally the scene from chapter one, that's what happened to me.

'She is taken out of class, that happened to me and they said: 'Your father is dead.' And I remember feeling, and this sounds very strange, but I was almost ashamed of my feelings, because I didn't want to cry in front of anyone. I remember just withdrawing because I didn't want anyone else to feel uncomfortable or see my vulnerability, and I kind of carried that with me.

“It's also generational because when we look at our parents and the generations before, they really didn't cry and so it's kind of every generation getting a little more confident to use that language to say it's okay to cry… actually vulnerability is your superpower. It's alright. I think that's very healthy.'