Melanie Blatt recently opened up about a poignant chapter in her life involving her fellow All Saints band member, Nicole Appleton. Blatt shared that despite being pregnant at the same time, Nicole never talked to her about undergoing an abortion.

In an introspective piece for the April issue of Good Housekeeping UK, Melanie, now 50, reflected on the challenging dynamics within the group, attributing some of the communication struggles to a lack of skills needed to navigate such sensitive topics.

The All Saints band was originally formed in 1993, with Melanie joining forces with Shaznay Lewis and Simone Rainford. After Simone’s departure, the group welcomed Nicole and her sister Natalie, creating a new lineup that eventually rose to fame.

Despite the close-knit nature of the group—Nicole and Melanie had been best friends since age 11, and two of the members were sisters—internal harmony was elusive. Melanie noted that their relationships were often fraught with tension.

The year 1998 marked a peak in their career, but it was also a time of personal upheaval for Melanie, who discovered she was expecting her daughter, Lilyella, with Stuart Zender, Jamiroquai’s bassist.

Coincidentally, Nicole found out she was pregnant around the same time, following a hotel room pregnancy test in Canada with Melanie. Nicole’s pregnancy was with then-boyfriend Robbie Williams. Despite these shared experiences, Melanie and Nicole never broached the subject of Nicole’s decision to have an abortion, a silence that speaks to the complex web of their personal and professional lives.

Melanie Blatt has revealed that her All Saints bandmate Nicole Appleton never discussed her abortion with her after they fell pregnant at the same time

As she reflected on the group’s ‘difficult relationships’ in Good Housekeeping UK’s April issue , the singer, 50, recalled not having the ‘communication skills’ to discuss it together

Melanie recalled: ‘It was the best night ever…Then the story got out and spread like wildfire. There was talk of how we could ruin the band. We were letting the other girls down.

‘Nic decided to have an abortion, but we didn’t really discuss it because we didn’t have the communication skills to do so. I don’t think we’ve ever spoken about it, to this day.

Adding of their relationship, she continued: ‘It was always a difficult relationship between the four of us. It’s such a shame; I think if we’d got it right, we’d have been laughing. 

‘At the same time, we didn’t fake it. We didn’t pretend we were okay. And we certainly didn’t stay in the band for money.’

The scenes were dramatised in Robbie’s biopic Better Man which was released in 2024, covered his nineties romance with All Saints star Nicole. 

He previously dubbed his ex-girlfriend ‘a complete angel’ as he opened up on their turbulent relationship and her heartbreaking abortion in the nineties.

In an interview with Hello! Magazine, he explained that he invited her to an early screening, before admitting: ‘The most difficult bit is watching Nicole and what we went through because she was instructed to get rid of our baby…

‘I didn’t make her do that – but I was a f****** awful boyfriend, like, really awful, and I was in the height of my addiction and alcoholism.’ 

‘Nic decided to have an abortion, but we didn’t really discuss it because we didn’t have the communication skills to do so. I don’t think we’ve ever spoken about it, to this day,’ she said (Melanie, Shaznay Lewis, Nicole and Natalie Appleton in All Saints in 1998)

The singer added: ‘And it breaks my heart every time I watch it because she’s a complete angel, and there’s still shame attached to who I was then.’

Robbie added that he called her as soon as she left the screening and both of them shed tears.

Nicole revealed her side of the relationship and breakup in her 2002 autobiography Together, writing how she fell pregnant with Robbie’s baby but after pressure from All Saints’ record company she had an abortion.

Recalling Robbie’s reaction to her pregnancy at the time, she said: ‘Robbie Williams put his hand on my belly and told me, “This baby is saving my life.’”‘

Robbie backed his ex’s decision to write about the abortion in her autobiography but later admitted reliving it had ‘torn him apart’.

‘I was completely behind her… If there’s something that’s so deep-rooted within yourself that you feel it would feel better to you that you exorcised it and got it off your chest.

‘Secrets can make you sick and secrets can make you feel terrible… then I’m completely behind her,’ he previously told the Daily Mail. 

Read the full interview in Good Housekeeping UK’s April issue, on sale from 26th February