Nicola Roberts has reflected on the impact of losing her Girls Aloud bandmate Sarah Harding in 2021.
Sarah tragically passed away at the age of 39 on September 5 after that a battle with breast cancer, and Nicola talked about her grief and how her outlook on life changed in the aftermath of the loss.
The singer, 37, spoke about Sarah during a performance on Darren Kennedy’s new podcast The Number, which launches on Thursday, April 13 on Apple, Spotify, and all other streaming platforms.
When asked if there was a number she would like to forget, Nicola admitted that it would be the day Sarah died because of the tragic significance she now associates the date with.
“We had the first anniversary of it last September, and I just know it’s going to be a horrible day every year,” Nicola said.
Candid: Nicola Roberts shared the impact of losing Sarah Harding during an appearance on Darren Kennedy’s podcast The Number on Thursday
Sad loss: Sarah tragically passed away at the age of 39 on September 5, 2021 after battling breast cancer (top center photo with bandmates Nadine Coyle, Nicola, Kimberly Walsh and Cheryl)
‘[It’s] just such a common day of the year now, it was just another day before [but] now that day has an anniversary and meaning, it’s a sad one.’
Reflecting on the influence of her grief on the way she looks at life, Nicola continued: ‘Time is the most precious thing we have as human beings, it can run out at any moment.
“I think it would be really easy to get extremely anxious, over time, when someone so young and so close to you just doesn’t come out and I think it’s important not to get obsessed with it , because things still happen by themselves. on your own time.
“I think it’s important to still go the pace of your life as you were, and not get crazy about the fact that your time might be coming to an end, or that someone else’s time might be running out.” end is running. I think that’s a dangerous place to be.’
Although things have been difficult since Sarah’s untimely death, Nicola added that she thought 2022 was “a really nice year” despite the circumstances.
Nicola explained, ‘While a lot of the things we worked on last year were the result of very sad circumstances, there was just something fun last year.’
In 2022, Girls Aloud raised £1 million for breast cancer research. Nicola revealed the news in an Instagram post shared in December of that year.
Alongside a photo of her bandmates, who had come out to support her performance in the 2022 Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special, Nicola wrote: ‘We are ending our year with such gratitude in our hearts that we managed to raise over a million pounds collect. for breast cancer research… at the request of our Electric Girl Sarah. We think of you and miss you every day Sarah.’
Honestly: Nicola (pictured with Girls Aloud in 2013) said ‘it would be really easy to get extremely scared’ after losing someone close to you, but it’s ‘important’ to stay alive
Sarah passed away on September 5, 2021, and her death was confirmed by her mother Maria in a statement shared on the star’s Instagram account, saying he “slipped away peacefully” following her battle with cancer.
Her Girls Aloud bandmates Nicola, Cheryl, Nadine Coyle and Kimberley Walsh all paid tribute to her following the news of her passing.
Nadine revealed last year that she thought she had been getting signals from Sarah, including when she was home and “something flew off the shelf.”
The singer described the difficult time she went through when Sarah passed away in September 2021.
Speaking on The Ryan Tubridy Show on RTE Radio 1 in October, Nadine shared how she filmed the Irish musical talent show Last Singer Standing, where she believes Sarah sent her signs of her presence.
She said, “I was so close to her in life. There have definitely been things, she has made her presence known a few times. While I was filming the show, it was right in the thick of it and the people were so nice.
“There were some days where the headphones just flew over the table and it happened three days in a row and the makeup girls were like, ‘That must be Sarah.’
“One night I was working in my house and something flew off the shelf. I was like, ‘Is this Sarah?’ I still think she’s going to call.’
The song with Darren Kennedy podcast is available on Apple, Spotify and all other streaming platforms.