- Entered Day 1
- Evicted Day 23
- 2 evictions faced
- 3 noms received
35 year old Claire is best known as a star of 90s pop group, Steps. Following a brief stint in girl band TSD she joined Steps at the age of 19 and the band went on to receive record sales of over 20 million. Famed for their dance routines as well as their catchy pop tunes, Steps were constantly topping the charts, won countless awards and sold out tours all over the world. After the Beatles, they were the most successful British pop group ever. Following the band’s split in 2001, Claire briefly joined forces with ex-bandmate ‘H’ to form a duo act which saw them singing together as well as presenting kids’ TV shows Steps to the Stars and SM:TV Live.
As well as making headlines for her singing success, Claire’s personal life has been under much media scrutiny. Whilst in the band, Claire embarked on an affair with her publicity manager, Reece, despite him being in a long-term relationship with a baby on the way. Of this time, Claire admits: ‘I still feel the shame of it every day but I was only 20 and probably too young and selfish to appreciate the impact this could have had. The guilt of what I was doing to another woman, even though they weren’t happy, was killing me.’
Claire married backing dancer Mark a few years later but admits that she didn’t want to go through with it: “I didn’t enjoy myself on our wedding day at all,” she says. She subsequently cheated on Mark with Dane Bowers (who was in a relationship with Katie Price at the time) and broke off their marriage after 18 months. Claire married ‘love of her life’ Reece in 2008 and they have two children together.
Following Steps’ split, Claire has spoken about her struggle with depression and after battling with eating disorders to stay thin throughout her time in the band, Claire found comfort in eating: “From the age of 17 to 25, I was in the music industry and had someone to organise my life. Then it stopped. I ended up sitting around wasting time and getting fat.” Claire’s weight has been a big talking point and she appeared on our television screens once again in BBC documentary Claire Richards: My Big Fat Wedding. Following the documentary, Claire released a best-selling fitness DVD.
In recent years, Claire has been back on our TV screens in Popstar to Operastar, Slave to Food, Celebrity Masterchef and Steps Reunion which followed the iconic pop group making their comeback after a decade. Following this, Steps reformed and were back at the top of the UK album charts and an ultimate UK tour. Of the reunion, Claire says: ‘At some points it’s been a bit weird, but most of the time it’s like no time has gone by at all, which is weird given that we’ve been apart longer than we were together. We’ve all grown up, had babies, got married, got divorced… and got married again!’ Of her weight struggles, Claire has said: ‘It’s not going to rule my life anymore.’
Hope Claire is in the final and either Claire, Ryan or Rylan to win 😀
She had two affairs! Omfg, I knew there was something about her that wasn’t right, I really do NOT like her at all. I think deep down she’s a bitchy, sneaky & little moron. Her time in CBB will tell if my perception of her is right or not. Well actually it’s all down to perception at the end of the day, nobody should call right or wrong on someone’s opinion of a celeb. How anyone can have a secret fling with a man already in a marriage is beyond me! So what if she was only 20 & he wasn’t happy, if they were all so for each other, she should have made him make a choice between her of the wife before ANYTHING started happening between them. I’ll never be able to warm to this girl now that I know about her scandelous past in saucy affairs.
Oh well things happen in life….
tara, how dare you even insinuate those affairs are part of the norm, they’re anything except that. They’re so morally disgusting & wrong on many levels & you should know this being a lot older than me. Go & read Lacey’s profile, she’s never been involved in affairs & she’s a glamour model so there you go. They could so easily be avoided if the married one spoke everything out with their other half first & had a divorce set in place. Then they could move on to their next partner without anything on their conscience & knowing you were keeping a mask on, telling lie after lie knowing full well in the end all you were going to inflict is devastation & heartbreak. There would be a lot less of this if they just did things the honest & decent way.
& if Claire wasn’t being the homewreaker here, the last thing she would agree to is letting him see her behind the wife’s back, there is just no way. How would having an affair change anything for the better? She let him lead his wife a merry dance! Leading her on into thinking nothing was making him unhappy. Let’s just say this, I could never leave Claire alone with my boyfriend, that’s for sure. She’s what makes women unreliable & untrustworthy.
Oh this gets even nicer, his wife was PREGNANT at the time. Sickening! That makes it 100 times even more dispicable. She obviously wanted him all for herself & the child. That’s why they’re all married with children now. Then conveniently when she got married & wasn’t happy, this was when she wasn’t so young & selfish, she had an affair with another man who was also taken. She has homewreaker written all over her!
Easy solution, more people should become swingers. Best of both worlds.
Swingers, ahahahaha. Good one Sam2! 😀 I loved that comment, it was so funny. I actually am bisexual myself, what a coincidence someone wrote the swingers comment, lol.
she seems like a nice girl. I like all of the house mates so far except the talent less Americans, Rylan and Miss Banghard. Hope the rumors about Jim Davison going in are true. Dont like him but he should stir things right up.
Keep it civil please!
@Sarah-Jane Being a swinger and being a bisexual is COMPLETELY different.
clare is great
Claire is coming across so well. She even managed to remain civil when robot Heidi sychophanted all over her in a desperate effort to curry favour. Too little too late luv. They really are a couple of social misfits.The rest have them well and truly sussed . Majority number of votes against them. How often has that happened before. Time for the gruesome twosome to toddle off back home to the homestead. They look like cast members from the Beverly Hillbillies. YUK YUK
Irene I think you’re starting to take your dislike of Speidi a bit too far now, you’re crossing the line firstly by branding them robots & secondly by labelling them “social misfits”. Well I’m sorry Irene but not everyone can be popular & in with the “in” crowd & to speak about them in that way I think isa pretty mean tbh. The last thing anybody needs is to be socially excluded & to have comments like yours written out the way it is, it’s no wonder society is the shoddy way it is to people who are a bit different from the “norm”.
Well as Spencer said last night Irene, the house’s number of votes doesn’t mean anything. Does it mean they are evicted? No it doesn’t. Are they still in the house within a chance of possibly getting to the final? Yes they are, so really worrying about what people in the house think is absolutely pointless! You don’t have to be mr or miss popular to stay in for longer than a week.
They’re untouchable as far as the housemates’ opinions of them are concerned, they can’t override how the public vote for the celebs in there. You hear me Irene: TEN VOTES FOR THEM COUNTS FOR NOTHING. Their votes doesn’t always necessarily reflect those of the public. In fact, the housemates rarely resemble what the public really wish for. So for all these reasons should we really take what they say as relevant & seriously? Should we f***. They’re all turning out to be boring, dumb halfwits apart from Speidi, Paula & Frankie.
@Irene Pearson
Lol @ Robot Heidi. Big Brother shouldn’t have been checking Spencer for a mobile phone, they should have been checking for a remote control.
Sam2, nice joke but not even laughable.
@Sam2
LOL Sam 2. One thing is certain the remote will not have a charm button 😀 :down: What a prize Jerk
Loving Claire what a sweet caring lady she is. Always good tactics to feed the hm’s also
Oh yeah claire is so sweet & caring blah blah blah, WHATEVER,
should be intresting wonder what the twist is… probably jim davidson coming in…
Getting Intresting 😀 😀 :up:
Claire for the finals shes a great housemate and real celebrity unlike some others 😀
Why is everyone condeming Claire for her past behaviour? Never judge lest thee be judged!! All I see is a lovely woman with a calm demeanour who said a few things out of term. Compare her to the ghastly Speidi – what a nasty pair of insecure, bitchy individuals. Is this what we call entertainment now? What next? Housemates being thrown to the lions?