Cheryl says she is not ‘emotionally, mentally or physically’ able to perform following Sarah Harding’s death
Singer said that she was ‘drained’ as she pulled out of performance at Birmingham Pride
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Your support makes all the difference.Cheryl has pulled out of her performance at Birmingham Pride following the death of her Girls Aloud bandmate Sarah Harding.
Harding died earlier this month aged 39, one year after revealing that she had been diagnosed with terminal breast cancer.
Her death was announced on 5 September with a post shared on Harding’s Instagram page by her mother Marie, who wrote that her daughter had died “peacefully” in the morning.
Cheryl, who performed alongside Harding in Girls Aloud from 2002 to 2013, had been due to perform at Birmingham’s LGBTQ+ festival on Saturday (25 September).
However, event organisers announced on Friday (24 September) that she would no longer be taking part, although her fee would be donated to cancer charities.
In a statement shared with the festival, Cheryl said that she was not “emotionally, mentally or physically able” to perform this weekend.
“This all feels so cruel,” she wrote. “Grief is such a harsh experience and an absolute rollercoaster of emotions. Questions without answers and pain without resolve. So tumultuous and constant. I am drained.
“It has been a long & emotionally exhausting 12 months with such twists and turns and I feel now I just need some time to sit with my feelings and process my grief.”
Cheryl continued: “Saying goodbye to somebody you spent such a massive piece of your life with is like nothing else. My heart is heavy… nothing prepares you for this bit.”
Following Harding’s death, her bandmate Nadine Coyle led tributes to her on social media.
“I am absolutely devastated!!” Coyle wrote. “I can’t think of words that could possibly express how I feel about this girl and what she means to me!”
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