Rochelle Humes has said she will “never respect” her absent father Mark Piper after he abandoned her as a child, she opened up in a candid new interview.
The 37-year-old presenter and former Saturdays singer said she doesn’t “really remember” her ex-father as he left her when she was young, but for many years she felt “angry and upset”.
It was only when Rochelle and her husband Marvin Humes welcomed their first daughter, Alaia-Mai, in 2013 that she finally lost all “respect and curiosity” towards her father.
Despite not having a male role model, the This Morning star’s uncle Paul Ince, who captained English football and played for Manchester United and West Ham, stepped up for her.
Speaking to Jamie Laing on his Good Company podcast, Rochelle said: ‘My dad passed away when I was one, I don’t really remember it.
“I remember waiting for him at the window on weekends that would quickly pass because he just wouldn’t come, and for so many years I was angry and upset about that.
“The day I had Alaia, I wasn’t immediately curious to meet my father, and I would never have respected him as a person. He’s not someone I would choose to spend time with.”
Rochelle Humes has said she will “never respect” her absent father Mark Piper after he abandoned her as a child, she opened up in an honest new interview.
Mark has three children, Love Island star Sophie Piper, as well as Lili and Jake, who Rochelle reconnected with after 23 years.
“As a child I had difficulties, then he had three more children, who are now, we are obsessed with each other but from the outside I saw that he was there for them and not for me,” she said.
Rochelle went on to explain how her famous footballer “uncle” Paul, who isn’t a blood relative but has always been someone she “looked up to,” eventually walked her down the aisle when she married Marvin in 2012.
“My uncle was there for me, he was a masculine presence for me, but my mother wore many hats,” she began.
“But my uncle Paul came and played football for England, he’s Paul Ince and he played for England, he cheated on me at my wedding and Marv had to ask Paul to marry me.
“It was exciting to go and watch West Ham every weekend, but he was really that male role model I looked up to.
“I never realized he was cool until high school. Claire, his wife, and my mom are best friends. He’s not actually my blood uncle, but my mom was the first one to have a kid and that’s it. He was always around and always is and always will be.
“I never felt like I didn’t have a male figure around because he always made time for me, like every single weekend.”
Elsewhere in the chat, Rochelle explained that she never knew she “didn’t have much” and explained how her mother raised her “in a hostel” before moving into a council flat.
She said: ‘She raised me and my sister alone, she did all the jobs, she put me up in a hostel and then we got a council flat and then a council house and then she bought the house and it was like winning the European Championships.
‘I see the financial privileges we have that I’ve worked hard for, but not just financially what she’s done as a single parent, I never knew we didn’t have much in life.
“L’unica cosa che sapevo di diverso era che dovevo aspettare in una coda diversa per il mio pranzo a scuola e ricordo di essere stato così imbarazzato.”
Rochelle trovò la fama per la prima volta nell’S Club Juniors all’inizio degli anni Duemila, quando aveva 12 anni.
Fu solo quando Rochelle e suo marito Marvin Humes diedero il benvenuto alla loro prima figlia, la figlia Alaia-Mai nel 2013, che alla fine perse tutto il “rispetto e la curiosità” per suo padre.
Nonostante non abbia un modello maschile, lo zio della star Paul Ince (nella foto nel 1997), che ha capitanato l’Inghilterra e ha giocato per Manchester United e West Ham, si è fatto avanti per lei
Nella band è stata raggiunta da Frankie Bridge, Aaron Renfree, Jay Asforis, Stacey Franks, Calvin Goldspink, Daisy Shelvey e Hannah Richings. Hanno continuato ad avere successo con successi come Automatic High mentre lavoravano insieme dal 2001 al 2003.
Tuttavia, mentre chiacchierava con Jamie, Rochelle ha insistito di aver guadagnato più soldi con l’S Club Juniors che con il Saturdays.
I Saturdays sono stati in cima alle classifiche in più occasioni con canzoni come “All Fired Up” e “Higher”, ma le cinque ragazze Rochelle, Frankie, Mollie King, Una Healy e Vanessa White non hanno mai visto grandi soldi e hanno ricevuto solo uno “stipendio”.
Ha detto: “Ho guadagnato più soldi con gli S Club Juniors che con i Saturdays”. L’industria musicale… i soldi se ne sono andati. Non era più lo stesso spazio in cui trovarsi.
L’ormai madre di tre figli ha spiegato che ci si aspettava che le ragazze vivessero un certo tipo di stile di vita, ma la maggior parte dei suoi soldi in realtà provenivano da accordi con i marchi e dai tour piuttosto che dai singoli del gruppo.
“Quando qualcuno dice che il tuo contratto discografico ammonta a X somma di denaro, ciò non significa che è quello che stiamo guadagnando. Ciò significa che metteranno questi soldi nell’album, pagheranno questi produttori, il budget di marketing.
‘Per un periodo gli artisti musicali guadagnavano soldi andando in tournée. I tour e le offerte del marchio erano il modo in cui avresti guadagnato i tuoi soldi. I dischi non erano per noi. Quindi saremmo il volto di uno shampoo e tutti avremmo il nostro profumo: è lì che guadagneremmo i nostri soldi. Questi accordi con i marchi erano davvero importanti per noi, così come lo era il tour.
‘Ma poi le etichette discografiche hanno cambiato tutta la loro strategia, e hanno fatto quelli che avrebbero chiamato accordi a 360 gradi. Quindi prenderebbero anche una parte del marchio [deals]e poi prendi una parte delle esibizioni dal vivo. Devi ricordare tutto quello che guadagni, dividerlo a metà, fondamentalmente con le tasse e un agente. E poi siete in cinque. Ci si aspetta che tu abbia uno stile di vita che non puoi sempre sostenere.’
Rochelle said: “My father passed away when I was one year old, I don’t really remember. The day I had Alaia, I wasn’t immediately curious to meet my father, and I never respected him as a person.”
Her addition Mark had three children, Love Island star Sophie Piper, as well as Lili and Jake, who Rochelle reconnected with after 23 years.
Reflecting on her years in the girl band, Rochelle also spoke about her interactions with paparazzi, saying they “would be on the floor trying to lift our skirts.”
She explained, “When I started dating Marvin, he couldn’t believe it. You have to remember, he was in a boy band. I was in a girl band, but his experience was very different from mine. We’d go somewhere, and he’d stay behind me when I got in the car.
“Photographers would come down and try to take pictures up your skirt, it would be awful. It was a really weird time that we were strangely accepting a little bit. We weren’t making enough money. It wasn’t like, ‘Okay, I don’t like this anymore, let’s stop.'”
To conclude the chat, Rochelle revealed that her first date with Marvin involved a drive around Wembley in his “luxury car” before going through a McDonald’s drive-thru.
“I married him, he felt normal and honest,” she added.
