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Kym Marsh - Celeb Career Clinic Kym Marsh, 30, first shot to stardom in Popstars in 2001, as a member of the winning band, Hear'Say, who then topped the charts. She lives with her husband of five years, former Eastenders actor Jack Ryder, and is about to reprise her role as Michelle in Coronation Street "When I got dropped by my record company in 2003, a lot of the press said my career was over. Behind the headlines though, things really couldn't have been more different. I went straight into Saturday Night Fever, the West End musical, and their was no time to brood - my feet didn't touch the ground! The rehearsals took over my life. Although I made my name as a singer, I've always been just as keen on the acting. But dancing - that's another matter, and for weeks all I thought about was mastering the dance moves. And then I was on stage, and getting the buzz of performing every night. The tabloids said I was down on my luck, because there's a public perception if you're not on prime-time television every night of your life, you've fallen off the face of the earth. But I didn't care. To me, the buzz is performing, wether I'm doing it to a West End audience or in front of Simon Cowell. I was working and I was happy. |
The only blip came at the start of 2005. After working in a variety of different singing and acting jobs - plus a spot of tv presenting on Loose Women - I suddenly didn't have any projects lined up. It continued for about six months. By the end of it, I was having a bit of an identity crisis. I was thinking, Who am I? What do I even do? I felt like a jack of all trades and I didn't have anything to my name. I did feel insecure then.
My husband, Jack, really helped me through those times though. We both know work isn't our life; our family is our life. And as he's in the same industry, he understands the nature of acting is you don't work all the time. When we're not working, we just hang out and enjoy it, doing fun stuff with the kids. People say the same thing about Jack: 'Ooh, it must be so hard now he's not working,' and I say, 'He's doing a play - he's hardly been out of work the whole year!'
Anyway, just at the right moment, my agent got me an audition for a part in Doctors. I was only on screen for about ten minutes, but I enjoyed it so much, and that turned out to be the start of everything going right. That was followed by another small part in Holby City. I'm really glad I got to build up some television experience this way; it meant when I got the call from Coronation Street at the start of this year, I felt like I'd earned the right to an audition.
The paparazzi turn up once in a blue moon, but apart from the Soap Awards I went to recently, I don't do the whole showbiz party thing. That said, I'm aware now I'm back on prime-time telly, the tabloids will be out for me and Jack again - but I can honestly say it doesn't bother me. The only way I know if we're in the papers is if someone tells me. I read them when I was in Hear'Say, because it was such a novelty, but now I really don't care.
I suppose I'm better equipped to cope with fame this time around. I've got two kids to get ready in the morning - I haven't really got time to go down to the newsagents and see what today's gossip is. I haven't changed since I've been out of the spotlight, because being famous never changed me in the first place. I'm a working-class girl, from Wigan - I'd never be able to show my face in the Labour club if I turned into a diva!
I feel really positive about the future. There are no guarantees. I know i've got what matters - I'm a good mother to my kids and I've got a good marriage - so if Corrie really takes off, that's an added bonus. It's taken a long time, but I'm at the point where I'm just starting not to be Kym from Hear'Say - I'm starting to be Kym Marsh, an actor in her own right. And that feels great."