What The Spice Girls Are Doing Today
The Spice Girls banded together in 1994, and they've been one of the most iconic girl groups ever since. The British group consists of Emma Bunton (Baby Spice), Melanie Chisholm (Sporty Spice), Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice), Mel B (Scary Spice), and Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice). The Spice Girls reached international fame in the late '90s thanks to hits like "Wannabe" and "Say You'll Be There." The group got their iconic nicknames thanks to a lazy journalist who couldn't remember their real names and dubbed each member based on an off-the-cuff trait. So with Posh, Sporty, Scary, Baby, and Ginger as minted superstars, the world couldn't get enough of them, including the British Royal Family, who have a long history with the Spice Girls.
Halliwell was the first of the group to pull out — in May 1998, Ginger Spice announced that she was stepping away. It wasn't long before the entire group disbanded, and the Spice Girls took a hiatus in 2000. However, in 2012, the group reunited for the London Summer Olympics to serenade audiences with their biggest hits. The Spice Girls banded together again in 2019 for a reunion tour, but Beckham didn't join her fellow stars. Bunton told the Daily Mail in December 2022, "We've been through so much and we still go through so much, from children to work." But in spite of the members' varying levels of commitment to the band over the years, she shared, "There's a bond there and it's very, very strong."
Emma Bunton: Baby Spice ain't a baby anymore
Emma Bunton, aka Baby Spice, met her now-husband, Jade Jones, when she was a Spice Girl, way back in 1998. Jones was also a singer and the couple just couldn't get schedules to align, so they actually split up twice — once in 1999 and again in 2002. Happily, in 2004, they reconnected and have stayed together ever since. They welcomed children Beau and Tate and got engaged in 2011. However, the duo didn't marry until 2021, because Bunton had previously felt like they didn't need the formalities of marriage to make their relationship work. For Bunton and Jones, their kids take center stage. In an interview with Today in February 2023, Bunton said, "My children are absolutely my everything. Everything changed in my life as soon as I had children."
Both Bunton and Jones have tackled an array of projects in their careers. Jones is now a chef, while Bunton has come out with two albums. "A Girl Like Me" dropped in 2001 while "My Happy Place" came out in 2019. In 2017, Bunton made her reality show debut on the series "Boy Band," working as an "architect" on the musical competition show. (She certainly knows a thing or two about musical groups!) Her love of motherhood also inspired some projects. She co-founded a line of baby goods and products called Kit & Kin. She's also written a parenting book and worked on children's books.
Melanie Brown: Scary Spice went through a scary divorce
In 2000, Melanie Brown, or Mel B, released her album "Hot" and in 2002, she published her memoir, "Catch a Fire." She has also starred in TV shows, musicals, and films, and was also a judge on Australia's "The X Factor" and "The Masked Singer."
Brown has also spoken openly about her love of motherhood and raising her three daughters. Brown had her eldest daughter, Phoenix Chi, with ex-husband Jimmy Gulzar, to whom she was married from 1998 to 2000. She then had her daughter Angel Iris with Eddie Murphy. While there were rumors of contention between Brown and Murphy, the former Spice Girl later cleared the air. She and Murphy planned on getting pregnant and planned on getting married; however, things fell apart between the couple before that could happen. In October 2022, Murphy reportedly agreed to pay $35,000 a month for child support payments.
She had her youngest daughter, Madison, with Stephen Belafonte, and they were married from 2007 to 2017. Belafonte and Brown went through a tumultuous divorce; Brown alleged abuse during their relationship but later dropped the charges and rescinded her request for a temporary restraining order. In October 2022, Brown announced her engagement to hair stylist Rory McPhee. She noted that Victoria Beckham might make her dress. "Once I get the date, then I'll go wedding dress shopping," she told 2DayFM (via People). "But I already know that Victoria wants to make me a dress."
Gerri Halliwell: Ginger Spice is living her best life
Gerri Halliwell became a mother in 2006, welcoming daughter Bluebell after dating filmmaker Sacha Gervasi. She raised Bluebell as a single mother, then married Formula One racing driver Christian Horner in 2015. She became a stepmother to his daughter, Olivia, and Halliwell and Horner later welcomed their son, Monty. With so much focus on their children, Halliwell and Horner have become country folk. They have two homes, in Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire, where they have goats, chickens, and miniature donkeys.
Following her Spice Girls days, Halliwell came out with her own albums. She released the album "Schizophonic" in 1999 and released the album "Scream If You Wanna Go Faster" in 2001, which featured her cover of "It's Raining Men." She released the album "Passion" in 2005 and has made countless TV and movie appearances, from an appearance in an episode of "Sex and the City" to "Crank: High Voltage."
Halliwell has always been drawn to writing. In 1999, she published her memoir "If Only." When asked by Today if she'd write another like it, she said, "I did that when I was 26. That's not even half [a life]. Hopefully, that's a quarter. So, we'll see." She added, "I've always been a book-loving nerd. I just love books." In 2004, she started writing a series called "Ugenia Lavender" for young readers, followed by a series called "Rosie Frost and the Falcon Queen."
Victoria Beckham: Posh Spice is at the top of her game
Victoria Beckham might be the most famous of the Spice Girls today, thanks to her fashion line and long-term marriage to soccer superstar David Beckham, who is the talk of the town again thanks to the Netflix docuseries "Beckham." Dubbed "Posh and Becks," the duo have been the topic of tabloids for decades; they began dating in 1997 and married in July 1999 after welcoming their first son, Brooklyn. They went on to welcome their son, Romeo in 2002, and in 2005, they had another son, Cruz. In 2011, they welcomed their daughter, Harper.
Victoria started her eponymous fashion line in 2008 with a collection of dresses. The brand has since taken on a cult status, earning recognition from even Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, and it continues to dominate fashion week. While Posh obviously made a name for herself performing with the Spice Girls, fashion has always been her great passion. "I've been doing fashion longer than I did music," she told CNN in 2023. She eventually prioritized her fashion line over the group. When they announced a reunion in 2019, Mel B told The Sun why Victoria couldn't join them. "She was really busy doing her fashion line and supporting David [Beckham] with his moves and his career and obviously she's got a bunch of kids so it's just about finding the right time," Brown explained. So it's all about family and fashion now for Posh Spice!
Melanie Chisholm: Sporty Spice dishes about her life
Melanie Chisholm, or Mel C, later revealed that she didn't always have a positive experience as one of the Spice Girls. In an interview with the Daily Mail in 2022, Chisholm acknowledged the joys of her time in the girl group first. "Well, it is such a mixed bag of emotions when I look back, because us girls achieved so much, we accomplished our wildest dreams." She later spoke about struggling with clinical depression and eating disorders. "I was quite unwell for a few years," she said. "When I look back, I don't know physically how I did it; when you consider how little I lived on and how much exercise I was doing alongside a brutal schedule."
While Chisholm wrote a piece in the UK's "Love Magazine" in 2016 saying that she wouldn't join a Spice Girls reunion, Sporty Spice did end up reuniting with the gals in 2019. She told Extra, "We don't see each other as much as we'd like ... But we stay in touch and we're always talking about opportunities and trying to get everyone back onstage together."
Chisholm had a solo career after the Spice Girls, releasing her debut album "Northern Star" in 1999. Her album "Reason" came out in 2003 and her third album, "Beautiful Intentions" came out in 2005. She met her partner Thomas Starr in 2002 and they welcomed their daughter Scarlet. However, Chisholm ended the relationship in 2012.