‘My baby bump’s replaced my six pack!’

Former Sugababe Amelle Berrabah opens up about her pregnancy joy, her burgeoning curves and how she chose her daughter’s name

It’s been over ten years since I the Sugababes topped the UK charts, and it’s fair to say Amelle Berrabah’s life has changed considerably since. “It all seems such a long time ago now,” smiles the singer, who is curled up on the sofa of our London shoot location, holding her baby bump.

After finding global fame in the Sugababes in 2005, and achieving a number one on her own with Never Leave You in 2009, Amelle, 34, has consciously stayed largely out of the limelight, apart from stints on BBC celebrity gymnastics show Tumble, and Celebrity Masterchef in 2016.

And she says she couldn’t be happier with her life. In October 2014, she married businessman Marcio Sousa Rosa, and says they were “over the moon” to discover last year that they were expecting their first child in early summer.

As Closer went to press, she hadn’t given birth yet, and told us, “Pregnancy is such a beautiful thing, every time I feel a flutter or movement it makes me feel tearful. We’re so happy and so excited.

“My husband wanted us to start a family straight after the wedding, but I wanted to feel totally ready. He was jumping for joy last summer when I suggested we start trying. I’m glad I waited, but I did feel pressure from people. When I turned 33, to me that’s young, but I had so many people saying, ‘You’d better have kids soon,’ or telling me to get my eggs frozen. I tried to ignore it but it did panic me a bit, I’m not going to lie.”

CHANGING BODY SHAPE

Amelle admits she felt “some pressure” to stay slim while she was part of the Sugababes, and the changes in her body with pregnancy have come as a bit of a shock.

“I’ve always been fit and pretty toned, and I’ve gone from having a six pack to ballooning in this pregnancy,” she laughs. “I have blown up a bit. Sometimes I feel like a Teletubby; I have to roll on my side and get on all fours just to get up. I’ve got a big bump and cellulite, but I’m happy inside.

“I don’t think I’m fat. I’m not going to weigh myself and worry about it – and I’m going to eat what I want. I’ve probably gained this weight because in the first few months of pregnancy I was ravenous all the time. You’ll always have days where you feel like the frumpy one, but the good far outweighs the bad.”

PAST PROBLEMS

The singer has had a well-documented battle with her weight in the past. In 2007, during the height of the Sugababes’ fame, she was even smaller than a size zero [a UK size 4] following a series of traumatic events.

She said at the time, “My weight plummeted to below a size zero. I was terrified to look at myself and I felt unattractive.”

But having been underweight in the past has given Amelle a refreshing outlook on her body now, and she insists she won’t be in a rush to lose the weight once her baby arrives.

“I think I’ll be too obsessed with my little girl to worry about it,” she says. “Eventually I’ll buy a cross trainer and put it in her nursery, so I can do that while she sleeps,

but it’s not a priority of mine.”

At her 20-week scan, Amelle and Marcio discovered they were expecting a daughter and plan to call her Amira, which is Arabic for “Princess”.

TOUCHING TRIBUTE

“My dad passed away 17 years ago from cancer, and I remember he always used to call my mum ‘Amira’,” Amelle explains. “I’ve always wanted to use it as a first or middle name, and so when we found out we were having a girl, my husband said, ‘It has to be Amira.’ My mum is delighted and so touched. It will be a lovely way to remember him.”

And Amelle says she is in contact with the other Sugababes – including long-term pal Heidi Range, 34, who has four-month-old daughter Aurelia herself – when they have time.

“I’m still in touch with the girls,” she says. “Not regularly, I’ll be honest, as we’re all so busy. My husband and I have met Heidi’s husband Alex [Partakis]; he’s a wonderful man and it makes me so happy that she’s settled.” But for now, as Amelle enjoys the final weeks of her own pregnancy, she jokes that she’ll be glad to get back to having more stable hormones once the baby is here.

“My husband has been amazing throughout all of it, my emotions have been a little bit up and down. I’ve even texted him saying, ‘You don’t care about me, you didn’t get me Wagamama’s,’” she laughs. “I think about it afterwards and say, ‘Was that even me?!’ But it’s been great – it’s a very exciting roller coaster.”

‘I’m glad I waited to get pregnant, but I did feel pressure’