Only two of the four other Spice Girls will be attending Mel B’s wedding to fiance Rory McPhee this weekend.
Emma Bunton (Baby Spice) and Mel Chisholm (Sporty Spice) will be there to cheer on their friend but Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice) and Geri Horner (Ginger Spice) will be noticeably absent.
Victoria, who has designed Mel B’s dress for the big day, will be missing the event because she’ll be out of the country.
“Victoria has long-standing commitments abroad and simply can’t attend. She adores Mel, and despite their different career paths, they get along well. It’s unfortunate but there’s no bad blood. It’s just one of those things.”
But Geri’s absence is a little more complicated and may be the result of an ongoing feud between the former girl group members.
Here’s everything we know about the Spice Girls’ reported falling out:
WHY DID THE SPICE GIRLS SPLIT UP?
In 1998, Geri announced she was leaving the Spice Girls to start a solo career.
At the time, she said she was leaving the group because of “creative differences” and the impact it was having on her mental health.
“One thing that was clear at the time I decided to leave was that inside Ginger Spice, underneath the make-up, the big hair, the giant platforms and the headline-grabbing dresses, there was a real girl and she was being suffocated,” she wrote in her second autobiography, 2002’s Just For The Record.
By 1998, Geri was keen to use her huge platform for good and after an interview about breast cancer awareness was cancelled, and the other group members didn’t support her push for it to go ahead, she decided it was time to go.
“Forget the rest of the European tour,” she wrote in her diary that night. “Forget America! Forget Wembley Stadium! Ginger Spice is no more. She has left the band.”
At the end of European tour, Geri’s lawyer read out a statement from her announcing that she had officially left the group.
“This is a message to the fans. Sadly, I would like to confirm that I have left the Spice Girls,” the statement read. “This is because of differences between us. I am sure the group will continue to be successful and I wish them all the best. I have no immediate plans. I wish to apologise to all the fans and to thank them and every one who has been there.”
The Spice Girls continued to perform as a four-person group until they went on a permanent hiatus two years later.
In 2019, Geri, Emma, and the two Mels reunited for a small UK tour and Geri admitted on stage that she regretted leaving the group.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I left. I was just being a brat. I want to say it’s just so good to be back with the girls that I love,” she said mid-performance.
WHY DID MEL B AND GERI FALL OUT?
The rift between former group members Mel B and Geri seems to have begun in 2019 when Mel B spoke about their intimate relationship while being interviewed by Piers Morgan.
“She is going to hate me for this because she is all posh with her country house and her husband, but it’s the past,” Mel said during the interview. “It was just that once. And hopefully when Geri gets asked that, which hopefully she will after this, she won’t deny it. Because it was just a fun thing.”
“I have said it now. All done. She is going to kill me.”
Geri responded to her former bandmate’s claims through a representative.
“It has been very disappointing to read about all these rumours again, especially on Mother’s Day of all days,” read a statement given to E! News. “[Geri] would like you to know that what has been reported recently is simply not true and has been very hurtful to her family.”
“Moving forward, Geri can’t wait to see the girls and all the fans on the tour, have an amazing time with everyone, and make some new memories.”
Mel B later told the Daily Mail she messaged Geri after the interview and she was “fine”.
“I texted her on the night I did the Piers Morgan show and explained what he’d said and how I’d answered and she was fine with it,” she told the publication. “The problem was it then got hyped up into a much bigger story, and it didn’t help that we were just about to begin rehearsals [for reunion tour].”
“It was awkward. We hadn’t been back in the situation of being together every single day, being on stage, rehearsing, getting ourselves back into Spice Girls mode, and then all the headlines about our relationship were thrown into the mix, which was pretty bad timing.”
WHY VICTORIA WAS ABSENT FROM THE 2019 REUNION TOUR
In 2019, Geri, Emma, Mel B and Mel C reunited for a UK tour.
According to reports at the time, Victoria was initially on board for the tour but pulled out at the last minute.
“The girls are furious with Victoria for initially agreeing to reunite, at one stage she even threatened to go legal if the girls cashed in on the brand minus her,” a source said at the time.
However, another source claimed Victoria never agree to the tour.
“Victoria was always up for a catch-up and the prospect of a celebration of the band’s work. But going out on the road for concerts was never something she agreed to,” they said at the time.
THE ONGOING ‘FEUD’ BETWEEN MEL BE AND GERI
After the Piers Morgan interview, tension continued to bubble below the surface between Geri and Mel B throughout the tour.
“The gigs will go ahead whatever happens, but those two couldn’t be more divided and both see themselves as the boss. Everyone involved is braced for some epic arguments once they’re back together,” a source told The Sun in 2019.
A few years later, Mel B seemingly reignited the feud by claiming that Geri lies about her age while appearing on the So Wrong It’s Right podcast.
“No one knows how old Geri is. No one’s seen her passport,” she told host Olivia Attwood. “I mean, I know we’ve travelled the world, but I still don’t know how old she is. Well, she claims she just had her 50th birthday, but I don’t believe her.”
And when Geri turned 52, Mel B shared a photo of them on Instagram with the caption: “Happy 75th Birthday”.
A few months later, all five of the former Spice Girls reunited at Victoria’s 50th birthday party, where they posed for a photo together.
“Mel tried to smooth things over with Geri at the party but it didn’t go as planned. She was laughing it all off but Geri didn’t seem interested in hearing what she had to say and wandered off,” a source told The Sun at the time.
“When it came to taking their group picture, Geri kept as far away from Mel as possible which was awkward to watch,” the source continued. “Geri wanted to be there to celebrate and have a good laugh with everyone, not talk to Mel about the embarrassing things she’s said about her.”
In November 2024, it was reported that the former group members were approached about making a TV series that would follow their rise to fame in the 1990s.
“It would have seen five actresses taking on the roles of Posh, Ginger, Scary, Sporty and Baby,” a source told The Sun. “The venture would have landed them all pay deals of around £1million (nearly $2million AUD) for essentially not lifting a finger.”
According to the publication, Geri pulled out of the plan.
“The plans have basically been thrown out. They wanted to have the agreement of all of the band and without Geri it’s hard to make it happen,” a source told The Sun.
In May this year, Mel B celebrated her 50th birthday with a party in Leeds. While Emma and Mel C attended the celebrations, Victoria and Geri were noticeably absent.
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