Dancing On Ice star Melody Thornton says being an ex-Pussycat Doll means she hasn’t had a boyfriend for 13 years
SHE is the stunning former Pussycat Doll who is already being tipped as a winner of this year’s Dancing On Ice.
But Melody Thornton has told how her sexy image means she has not had a boyfriend for 13 years.
The American singer, who will feature in tonight’s launch of the reality skating show, puts her barren spell down to “attracting a certain kind of guy” who just wants to sleep with her.
She says: “I think maybe I look like the kind of girl you do one thing with and not anything else.”
Melody, 34, who often performed in raunchy outfits during her time with the hit US girl group, said: “I’ve been single now for 13 years and that’s embarrassing to say, actually.
“I’ve been through the ringer with American men. Guys don’t approach me.
“If you know me, you’re speaking to me, but if you’re just looking at me, you’re thinking, ‘That’s the girl you have sex with only’. You have to tell me you love me, I need to know you love me.
“Just because I was your fantasy poster on the wall doesn’t mean I’m going to slut drop and sleep with you after the first date.”
Melody has also told how being part of the Pussycat Dolls — which also featured Nicole Scherzinger and Strictly’s Ashley Roberts — left her battling severe anxiety and made her so miserable she was pleased when they split in 2010.
She says: “It was always scary. I was always full of anxiety. I had acne all over me. I was imploding from the inside out.”
Melody, who will dance with hunky pro Alexander Demetriou, is the fourth former Pussycat Doll to feature on our reality TV shows.
Ashley, 37, made it to the final of BBC1’s Strictly last month, while Nicole, 40, was a judge on ITV’s The X Factor, and Kimberly Wyatt, 36, was on Sky 1’s Got To Dance panel.
Melody was raised in Phoenix, Arizona, where her working-class parents Elia and Theolph worked hard to send her to singing lessons.
Her talent was first spotted at primary school, when she won a singing contest with Mariah Carey hit Without You. But her big break came in 2003 when she was offered a place in the Pussycat Dolls.
She said: “When you come from nothing, you don’t turn down great opportunities.
“If you’re in the middle of the ocean drowning, praying to God to send you some way out, and he sends you a tugboat, you can’t be down. You’ve just got to get on the boat and make it happen. It’s all about getting to the next step.”
Nicknamed Baby Doll, Melody joined Nicole, Ashley, Kimberly, Carmit Bachar, 44, and Jessica Sutta, 36, to become the sixth member of the group.
By 2005 they had become one of the world’s best-selling girl bands, with hits such as Don’t Cha.
But they were plagued with conflict from the start.
Melody says: “I am primarily a vocalist and then I got into the band and they told me I was going to be mainly a dancer, and I was like, ‘I can’t dance'. It was a really difficult time for me.”
Jealousy erupted at the constant emphasis on lead singer Nicole, with the other girls feeling like they were being treated as mere backing dancers.
Melody says: “It is important for every person on this earth to be self-sufficient. Moving into the Pussycat Dolls situation, there was no Melody being her-self. It was Melody fitting into a mould and a character, and that’s what I did. I did it to the best of my ability. I got into the group to sing. That was made clear to me.
“But it became more and more apparent what was going on. Roles were being minimised. It was tough as you don’t want to s**t on your opportunity.”
By June 2010 Melody could take no more and announced she had left the band to concentrate on a solo career.
She says: “When it was over I was like, ‘Great, next chapter’.”
One year later she released her first official single, Sweet Vendetta, and is still trying to forge ahead alone.
She explains: “I’m the kind of person that if you tell me I can’t do something, I’m like ‘Ha, watch this’.”
Yet despite her singing career taking a turn for the better, her love life has stalled. In 2008 she was briefly linked to comedian Eddie Murphy, 57, after the pair were reportedly seen at a party.
But friends from her home town say she has not had a boyfriend since she dated a boy remembered only as Dominic as a teen.
Speaking last year about her love life, she said: “I had one serious boyfriend during high school and then I got into the group. I’ve never lived with anyone.
“It was the biggest opportunity you’ll get, so don’t f*** it up by having someone drag you down. I’m just trying to get some sex on a regular basis.”
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In 2017 she appeared on E4’s Celebs Go Dating but she could only be “friends” with the man she was paired with.
In the same year she appeared in Celebrity Island With Bear Grylls.
On her hopes for romance in the future, Melody has said: “You have to go through what you don’t want, and say, ‘Right, I don’t want that.'
“People always ask why I’m single. If you sit back and examine yourself, you say, ‘S**t, it’s me, maybe’. So I’m getting lessons and help on how to date, and how to get the most out of dating.”
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