Pixie Lott says West End stint left her ‘broken’ and ‘crying on the floor’ after each show
SHE was the happy-go-lucky Noughties pop star who notched up three No1 hits singing about partying and boys.
But in the decade that followed the release of PIXIE LOTT’s last album, that positive persona slipped away as a stint in West End play Breakfast At Tiffany’s led to a breakdown.
The Mama Do singer received rave reviews for her 2016 stint in the show, which also went on a nationwide tour.
But she has opened up for the first time about how playing leading lady Holly Golightly — portrayed by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 movie — left her “broken”.
In an exclusive chat, Pixie, who has just announced her comeback album Encino, which will be out in September, said: “It was based on the book, not the film.
“The film is a lot lighter. But in the book she loses everything — her husband, her baby, her life, her cat. Everything.
“By the end of the show, I was on the floor of the stage crying my eyes out. Night after night after night for about a year, eight shows a week.
“I ended up doing that more than I was being myself.
“By the end, I was a completely broken version of myself. I couldn’t function properly at all.
“It really affected me mentally. And I’d never had anything like that before. I was living with it for a couple of years. It took me a while to get out of that frame of mind.”
Pixie, who wed model OLIVER CHESHIRE in 2022, continued: “I was Googling everything to try and find ways to kind of get out.
“The first thing that popped up that was a natural way was meditation. I just got in a taxi and went to the closest meditation class.
“I got a new perspective on things. And it got me out of that situation, basically. But yeah, it was really, really tough for a while.”
She was determined to pour that experience into her album, and it has inspired an emotional song called Say So.
But the first sample she has given of the record is her single Somebody’s Daughter, which came out yesterday and is all about considering who you are talking to before throwing abuse at them.
That one is also written from experience, as she told how she has been sent vile messages — including death threats — online.
Asked if she had received anything that bad, she said: “Yeah. Definitely. To see things like that, it’s not nice. I’ve definitely seen some not nice comments over the years and it would just be anything from appearance to, ‘You think you’re so good’. Things like that.
“But there’s been some really bad ones. I don’t even want to say because they’re really nasty.
“There was people basically wishing stuff to happen to me.
“The worst thing you could imagine. And I just don’t know where all that hatred can come from.”
The subject matter is a marked change from her earlier pop hits such as Mama Do and All About Tonight — and her new sound will surprise people.
Pixie explained: “I really wanted to make a proper body of work. Real, timeless music like I listen to.
“When I first started out, I was, like, 13, 14, making my first album and I was completely led in what direction people saw for me.
“Creative control wasn’t in my field at all, whereas now, I finally feel like I have that because I went out on my own.”
Reflecting on the album, she added: “It’s been ten years since my last one and it’s such a completely different sound.
“It’s the album I’ve always wanted to make, so I’m really excited to put it out there.”
I Got Your Backside, Maya
MAYA JAMA and STORMZY looked refreshingly normal on a day out in Paris.
My exclusive photographs show the loved-up pair, who got back together last year following a break-up, going for lunch at Brasserie Martin in the city between Fashion Week shows.
The power couple are enjoying some time together amid her manic schedule as the host of telly reality show Love Island.
She has been racking up her air miles flying back and forth to Mallorca for the ITV2 show, which had JOEY ESSEX cracking on with two different women before one was booted off this week.
It is a guilty pleasure of mine. And I’m sure Maya is absolutely loving the drama – I know I am.
Well I’ll be, it’s Ye
THEY were just a mile apart in Paris, but KANYE WEST and Bianca Censori’s Fashion Week look was poles apart from Maya and Stormzy.
While the latter blended into the crowd, Kanye, aka Ye, did everything he could to stand out at the Prototypes Spring/Summer 2025 show.
Weirdly, he appeared to be angling for a job as a beekeeper – in this creepy white mask and outfit.
And Bianca, well, true to form, wore almost nothing and showed off her bum in a thong bodysuit.
It’s enough to put you off your croissants.
Kate Pop at Music Industry
KATE NASH has told about the darker side of the music industry and taken a pop at the people at the top.
Kate told me: “There’s no union for us. You work illegal hours, you’re supplied with drugs and alcohol for free whenever you want it.
“Your responsibilities in life, someone else will take care of them just to keep you going.
“Then you’re kind of not fully aware . . . it’s hard.
“People have your credit card. And the sooner you can get a handle on understanding that stuff the better.”
The Foundations singer, whose new album 9 Sad Symphonies is out today, added: “The more people can speak out about it the better. If people share their experiences we start to become more aware.”
Girls Play Anthem For Sarah
CHERYL has revealed the poignant reason why GIRLS ALOUD have been blasting out SHAKIRA’s football anthem Waka Waka (This Time For Africa) each night before they take to the stage during their reunion tour.
It is for their late bandmate SARAH HARDING. The singer told the audience in Birmingham: “That was Sarah’s favourite song when she was going through all of her stuff.
“It’d get her up dancing and singing. She’d be on FaceTime like, ‘Waka Waka, eh eh!’.
“It made us happy to see her happy in those darker times, so we wanted the spirit of Sarah to start right at the very beginning.”
Sarah died in 2021 after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
I am seeing the band next week at London’s O2 Arena – I’d better pack my tissues.
No Faith in Web Dating
AFTER signing up to celebrity dating app Raya to check out the talent, PALOMA FAITH has now deleted it – because she’s sick of perverts.
The singer, inset, told the Dirty Mother Pukka podcast: “I have been on them all and deleted them as I feel so disheartened.
“I feel a lot of people on there aren’t looking for relationships.
“They are just looking for an easy way to completely ruin the sex industry and get it for free.”
On the problem of dating while famous, Paloma added: “I think everyone I like is going to want to meet me and it isn’t always for the right reason. The other thing I’ve found is being ghosted.
“I’m like, ‘We already know I’m just way out of your league and you’re ghosting me! What’s going on?’.”
That’s good advice for all singletons. Be more Paloma!
Album 2 Black to the Future
AMERICAN jazz singer LADY BLACKBIRD has announced her second album and said fans of her 2021 record Black Acid Soul will love it.
That one was critically acclaimed, but she said she started working on the follow-up – titled Slang Spirituals and out on September 13 – before her debut offering was released.
Speaking at a Q&A in London this week, the star, right, said: “We were actually in Black Acid Soul world. The album hadn’t even come out yet. The album wasn’t released, but we started writing these songs, which made sense.
“We wrote so many tunes for this album. We wrote over 30 songs and could have curated several different concepts.
“But we wanted to make sure that people who loved the first record wouldn’t be alienated by this record.”
lTRAVIS SCOTT has been arrested in the US for disorderly intoxication after a drunken row on a yacht. The rapper, who has two kids with his ex KYLIE JENNER, was on a vessel in Miami Beach Marina when police were called. Things are believed to have kicked off after he refused to leave a party.
lJ-LO has jetted off to Italy amid speculation she has split from husband BEN AFFLECK. She was spotted on a boat in Positano on Wednesday without Ben, who she married in 2022. It comes after they put their Beverly Hills home on the market. Things aren’t looking good.