GABRIELLE UNMASKED Singing in mask was worse than childbirth
THE Harlequin normally provides theatrical giggles, but dressing up as one was no laughing matter for Masked Singer star Gabrielle.
The soul star – who was revealed on last night’s show – said wearing the bulky costume was even worse than childbirth.
She admits she had to fight off panic attacks as she wowed judges with renditions of Rihanna’s Diamonds, Nat King Cole’s Smile, Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car and Falling, by Harry Styles.
Gabrielle, 50, admits the show was an “incredible experience”.
But of the costume, she groans: “I got really scared, like a big baby. The mask is heavy – nothing prepares you for the panic. I was getting panic attacks.
“It’s one thing to do rehearsals, then you put it on and I was terrified. It was so hot.
“I didn’t realise I had a fear of closed spaces until they put the mask on me.
“I was having kittens, I couldn’t breathe. You have to sing a song and your mouth is so dry.
SCARED
“They walk you down a ramp, and they say you have to sing. And I was saying, ‘I can’t, I can’t’.
“In the end, I had to do the walk to the stage in two parts and I had people holding three fans up to my face to keep me cool.
“I didn’t know if I was going to survive, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do it. I had to fight through many things.
“It was challenging but it was amazing. I was scared all the time but then, when you watch the other singers on TV, they are flawless.
“For me, giving birth was easier. The panic attacks, the heat, the costume… it was all so hard. But it was also incredible.”
Many viewers online recognised Gabrielle’s voice – and her daughter rumbled her too.
Gabrielle says: “I thought I was doing a great job at masking my voice, but clearly not. You have a vocal coach. They try and say, ‘Can that be a bit less Gabrielle-ish’.
“For Diamonds, they wanted me to be posh and for Fast Car they wanted me, not Cockney, but a Lily Allen vibe.
“I was like, ‘I can’t do that. It’s just not me!’ But I did try.
“When I listened to Diamonds I thought, ‘I wasn’t meant to sound like that’.”
Londoner Gabrielle said the pre-recorded show was run like “a military operation” with 12-hour days. And she could only
As the mask went on, I’d have panic attacks... it was so hot, terrifying! GABRIELLE REVEALING HER COSTUME ORDEAL
reveal the fact she was in the programme to her 25-year-old son – which meant keeping it a secret from her daughter, who is 17. Gabrielle says: “My daughter didn’t know anything about it.
“I watched the first show on my own and then people were sending her performance clips of me and then she came down to speak to me. She said, “Mum, I
know your voice’. And I was like, ‘No, it’s not me’. She was saying, ‘I’m not three, I’m taller than you, I know your voice’!
“People were trying to guess. When people ask, I ignore them and go on to the next question.
SECRECY
“I pretend it hasn’t even been mentioned. There is so much secrecy, you are not allowed to come out of your dressing room in case you see someone.
“You are not allowed to speak in case people hear your voice. When you get to the studios, you are not allowed to have any skin on show. There are only a few people allowed to talk to you.”
Gabrielle says she got to choose her own costume and admits she could never have been Sausage, who is yet to be revealed.
She was also offered Blob – eventually taken by comedy star Sir Lenny Henry.
Gabrielle says: “I could never have been a sausage, I’m more of a hamburger.
“I think Blob or Dragon was originally suggested to me. But then they showed me Harlequin and I was like, ‘Yep, love that’.” In