‘I’m definitely not cooking dinner – I just open the wine’
Emma Bunton reveals what she loves and hates about the festive season, and teases Spice Girls plans for 2020
Forget the work Christmas do – Emma Bunton kicked off this year’s festive season with a special solo gig at the Royal Albert Hall. Uniting her friends and family, her Christmas
Party concert topped off an incredible year that saw the Spice Girls reform for their summer tour, minus original fifth member Victoria Beckham.
Full of festive cheer ahead of her gig, Emma revealed on The One Show that this is her favourite time of year, saying, “I’m mad about Christmas – I love it. I think it’s just a time when we can get together, go to work parties, and get our Christmas pyjamas on.”
BAKING GIG
On top of singing, Emma, 43, also now co-hosts the US version of Bake Off alongside Paul Hollywood. “I get to taste cake all day,” she says. “Apart from the Spice Girls, it’s probably my favourite thing I’ve ever done. I get to work with Paul and I have learnt a bit. I like baking with the kids.”
Emma is a doting mum to sons Beau,
12, and Tate, eight, and has been happily coupled-up with partner Jade Jones for 21 years. But despite adding the baking gig to her CV, Emma admits she’s leaving the festive cooking to her fiancé, to whom she’s been engaged for 11 years, with no firm plans to marry.
She says, “I wish I could cook, but
I’m not great. Because my other half is a brilliant cook, I’m a bit spoilt, I get away with it. I just open the wine! I’m definitely not doing Christmas dinner.”
CLOSE BOND
Damage singer-turned-pro chef Jade, 40, also joined Emma on stage at her Christmas Party gig, where she performed festive solos and Spice Girls classics.
Reflecting on the summer Spice Girls tour, Emma, aka Baby Spice, said the bond with her bandmates – Geri Horner, 47, Mel B, 44, Mel C and Posh, both 45 – is unbreakable.
“I don’t know if we can get any closer because we are so close,” she says. “We look after each other. I love working with them.”
She even rated this year’s tour as better than the gigs in their Spice Girls heyday, saying, “It was incredible – it was everything I had hoped for and more. Being a bit older and having our children there made it extra special. I felt like they were the best shows we’d ever done – it felt magical. It was a bit like a huge hen party every night. I loved it.”
So what are Emma’s thoughts on doing more Spice Girls shows next year? “It was amazing and I’d love to do it all again.”