KIMBERLY WYATT The Pussycat Doll proves the show will always go on
While the band’s reunion tour is still unconfirmed, the triple-threat former Pussycat Doll is exercising her other performing talents
Kimberly Wyatt has found a silver lining to the stalling of the much-anticipated Pussycat Dolls global tour. She has been focusing on her new passion: acting. “It’s my next lease of life as an entertainer,” she tells hello!. “I’ve spent most of my career as a dancer and singer, but acting has become something that really excites me. I enjoy sinking my teeth into characters and bringing them to life.”
Her latest role is in Override, a sci-fi thriller about a futuristic reality show in which a robot goes off the rails. Kimberly plays chief of staff to the US Vice President, played by Dean Cain.
“He was just brilliant to work with – it felt like stepping into Superman’s presence,” she says of Dean, who played the superhero in the 1990s American TV series.
“It was a lot of fun to play such a powerful woman and the film as a concept is quite intriguing.”
Missouri-born Kimberly, who lives in Weybridge, Surrey with her husband, model Max Rogers, and their children Willow, six, Maple, four, and Senna, two next month, also relishes playing coldhearted band manager Sasha Small in the CBBC dramedy series Almost Never, about two bands in a The X Factor- style competition. It has just been sold to the Disney Channel.
“I bring a lot of drama to the show,” she says. “And it’s so nice to see this little show that the UK has loved is now entering the American market as well.”
Kimberly studied at New York’s Joffrey Ballet from the
‘Acting has become something that really excites me. I enjoy sinking my teeth into characters’
age of 14 and didn’t go to drama school, but has always taken acting workshops to hone her craft. “I’ve been careful about how I go about my career as an actress as I don’t want to all of a sudden be the star of the show,” she says. “I want to go about it the right way, and be as credible as I can.”
Of fitting her entertainment career around her family life, she admits: “It’s a bit of a juggle struggle. But you have to pursue what you’re passionate about, as well as keeping mindful of the balance you’re creating for your family. But I keep the kids involved and show them that it’s important for Mum to continue doing what she loves.”
That includes the tour with the Pussycat Dolls. The band announced their reunion at the end of 2019, but on what would have been the first day of rehearsals for the proposed 2020 tour, the UK went into lockdown, half of the group had to fly back to Los Angeles and the tour was postponed.
Recently it was put in jeopardy again due to a legal dispute between the band’s choreographer and founder, Robin Antin, and lead singer Nicole Scherzinger. Kimberly hopes the tour will still happen in 2022, but is philosophical.
“I love being a Pussycat Doll, I would love to get back on stage, but ultimately I have to honour the decisions of the brand,” she says. “I know there’s nothing more I could do to possibly bring this line-up together. Now I just have to step back and wait for people to figure out who wants to be there. You really can’t get wrapped up in the drama of it all.”
She is, she says, as frustrated as their legions of disappointed fans. “We’ve worked really hard to empower females with our songs, so it hurts to see it going in the direction that it is right now. But I’m hopeful that things will get worked out.
“All I can do is stay focused on other work that makes my heart sing.”
That includes her first love, dance, as she tours the UK teaching in studios and schools. “I’d never give up on dance because dance has never given up on me,” says Kimberly, who hopes her daughters will love it just as much.
“I’d like to say I’m not the pushy mum who says they have to dance…” she says, smiling. “But they love it, so I’m trying to support and create opportunities as much as possible.”