Melanie “Sporty Spice” Chisholm: The Discipline of Girl Power

Mayim Bialik's Breakdown

Mayim Bialik

Mental Health, Society & Culture, Wellness, Health & Fitness, Comedy, Thebigbangtheory, Spirituality, Selfimprovement, Mentalhealth

4.7 • 5.2K Ratings

🗓️ 20 December 2022

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Melanie Chisholm (AKA “Sporty Spice” of the Spice Girls, solo artist, author of The Sporty One memoir) joins us to discuss the Spice Girls’ impact on music and culture, battling difficult personal struggles in the extreme public eye, and the toll playing a caricature of yourself can take. She reveals the origins of the band and their “Girl Power” message, the similarities between each band member and their onstage personas, and why she finally decided to reflect on her experiences in her new memoir. Mel C opens up about the onset of her disordered eating, why she finally decided to seek help, and the toxicity of the tabloid media when Spice Girls rose to fame compared to today’s social media. Mayim and Melanie consider denial as a coping mechanism, the loneliness that comes with disordered eating, and the impact of the loss of Queen Elizabeth II.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm a spice girl, I've done these ridiculously incredible things, but you know what, some
0:06.2	days for me, getting out of bed was the biggest achievement, you know, so we just need to
0:12.2	applaud what we deem as this more things, sometimes.
0:15.9	Hi, I'm Maya Biallik and welcome to my breakdown.
0:33.4	This is the place where we break things down so that you don't have to.
0:36.9	And let me tell you, you could not break this one down without us because if you ever
0:43.4	wondered anything about the pop phenomenon and global sensation that was is the spice
0:53.0	girls you've come to the right place.
0:56.0	Before I explain why you should keep listening to this episode, I'd like to acknowledge
1:00.1	that my co-pilot Jonathan Cohen is not here today, but I will fill him in on all of the
1:04.5	incredible things that happened today.
1:06.8	So we have Mel see with us, she has released a memoir, The Sporty One, and we're going
1:13.4	to talk all about it.
1:14.8	I was in college when the spice girls came out full disclosure.
1:18.5	However, I knew who they were and honestly through reading this book, I understand a
1:24.1	lot more the significance of their impact on the music world and also really the culture
1:30.8	that we were all living in and really continue to live in.
1:34.1	She's very honest about what it was like to experience fame when there were voices in
1:39.1	her head telling her so many things about what she should look like and act like and she
1:43.8	talks really courageously about an eating disorder that progressed significantly and she's
1:49.2	got a lot of insight and she was my favorite spice and I think you'll see why.
1:56.6	I do want to mention their debut single, Want to Be, came out in 1996.
	...

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