heryl has said “it doesn’t feel like she’s gone at all” when she participated in a charity event in memory of former Girls out loud band member Sarah Harding.
The surviving Girls Aloud singers Cheryl, Kimberly Walsh, Nadine Coyle and Nicola Roberts joined fans and supporters in Race For Life For Sarah, a 5km run to celebrate Harding’s life and raise money for breast cancer.
Harding died in September at age 39 after revealing she had breast cancer that had spread to other parts of her body.
Speaking at the London Charity Race Hyde ParkCheryl said of Harding’s death: “To be honest, I never experienced or expected this grief.
“You know I lost grandparents when I was younger and I lost a friend when I was younger but nothing like this, the feeling of shock and disbelief and it still lingers now to be honest. I still can’t quite believe it’s real.”
Asked if a Girls Aloud reunion without Harding might be a possibility, Cheryl told the PA news agency: “It’s been less than a year. It doesn’t feel like she’s there anymore.”
Roberts, 36, Coyle, 37, and Cheryl wore pink T-shirts with Race for Life text as they ran together in Hyde Park, while Walsh, 40, competed remotely as she was unable to join them in London.
As the three singers took the stage in front of the crowd in Hyde Park, Roberts held up her phone and said she couldn’t reach Walsh at the time and suggested she might be warming up for her own race.
At the event, Coyle told the PA news agency that she was “in denial” about Harding’s disease.
“Last year around this time we were actually hanging out,” she said, adding: “We all met last year. She was there and we were talking and she didn’t even seem that sick.
“I was in denial all the time and was the friend who was ‘Oh, it’s going to be okay,’ you know, I was in complete denial until the day she died.”
Her comment prompted Roberts to say, “We too were concerned about your denial. As I think for me, I felt like I was worried about you not being so present.’
Speaking of Harding’s “electric” energy, Roberts said, “Obviously we get together quite often now to get things done, strange because her energy was so electric that we kind of… we celebrate such a chill. …
“Sarah’s energy was like fireworks, so I feel that huge difference in energy when she’s not there.
“I don’t think we’re feeling like Girls Aloud right now. We don’t feel a bond without Sarah. She, like I just said, she was such a big part of our energy that it doesn’t feel like it.”
The girl band formed on the TV show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002 and had hits such as Sound Of The Underground and The Promise. They broke up in 2013 and all have had successful solo careers in music and TV.
Cheryl also said it was great that the surviving Girls Aloud members could be involved in Race For Life For Sarah, saying: “You feel so helpless, you’ve never felt so hopeless, it’s awful.
“So the fact that she had one request that we can fulfill is great for us because it just feels like we’re doing something.
“We felt like we couldn’t do anything for so long.”
The band’s fundraising efforts will conclude with a grand gala dinner later in the year.