Emma Bunton has recalled “lactating heavily” while on stage with the Spice Girls.
Known as Baby Spice, Bunton was performing with fellow members as part of the girl group’s Return of the Spice Girls tour in 2007, when milk leaked from her breasts onto her Roberto Cavalli ensemble. Whoops! But then again, considering the fact that she had given birth to an adorable baby boy named Beau (who is now 13 years old) just four months before the shows, this is only understandable! She also recalled how her partner Jade Jones rushed to find materials backstage to stop the milk from oozing out.
In an excerpt from her Mama You Got This book, Bunton – who also has 10-year-old Tate with the former Damage star – wrote,
“I have memories of lactating quite heavily during one of my first performances on that tour, at the Staples Center in LA. Our costumes had been designed by Roberto Cavalli, who Victoria knew, and oh my goodness they were beautiful. But stage costumes are different to evening wear. These were heavy, highly structured pieces (they had to withstand quite a lot of activity!) and there were frequent changes.”
The singer laughed it off at the time, but, in hindsight, she feels she wasn’t ready for the “demanding regime” of performing and touring so soon after giving birth.
“They say it burns around 300 calories a day, which I’m sure it does, because it takes a lot of power and strength to keep producing all that nutritious milk. To try to combine that with an energetic stage tour and sleepless nights was, with the benefit of hindsight, not a great idea,” she lamented.
She also added that,
“There were a lot of tears and a fair amount of self-recrimination.”
To all mothers out there, please don’t be too harsh on yourselves — you’re doing the absolute best that you can! All the love in your growing journey towards motherhood.
*Cover image via Instagram @emmaleebunton