KELLE THE
CONQUERER
Former Eternal member Kelle Bryan talks to us
about confronting her ex-bandmates, her battle
with lupus, as well as her triumphs as a mother,
wife and businesswoman.
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H
i Kelle, it was great to see
you on The Big Reunion with
your Eternal ex-bandmates
last year. Can you tell us about
the whole experience, how was it
for you?
I really wanted to have closure on the
whole experience and shut that chapter
of my life. When you are publicly sacked
you kinda crawl under a rock and hope
the whole thing will go away. But what
doesn’t go away is the actual issue, so
I had to face them. Having time away
from the girls gave me space to grow as
a person and learn about myself. I felt
really bullied in the situation, so I had
to recover and grow some balls (laughs).
I think we all needed to do the show
because it was a difficult time for all of us, even though it was
such a great time, behind the scenes there was so much else
going on. So doing the show (The Big Reunion) was about
closure and being able to look the girls in the face and ask
‘What was that all about?’. We’re all now mature women with
children of our own so we were able to talk things through.
Do you miss the buzz of performing, would you ever
considering reforming the group?
No! Don’t get me wrong it was great to work with BeBe
(Winans) and selling out Shepherd’s Bush Empire was a great
feeling. We also did a couple of other gigs after the show which
was great. But I knew before going on the show that I wouldn’t
want to continue with a career in the band. I’ve definitely
moved on from that now.
What would you say was the highlight of your whole
Eternal experience?
There isn’t really one thing that sticks out as there were so
many significant moments. You are on a rollercoaster so
everything is a bit of a blur. But there are a few things like
being invited to meet the Sultan of Brunei and perform for his
daughter’s 16th birthday. Whitney Houston was also scheduled
to perform and it was a really surreal experience. At the time
you don’t realise the significance of some of the things you are
involved in. But she (Whitney) was lovely and it’s such a great
loss that she’s no longer with us. You just don’t know what’s
going on with someone and the difficulties they face, secretly.
Tell us about your talent agency, Advocate Agency…
The whole idea for my agency came about when I was in the
group and on a train journey with my then manager who
said to me ‘This is not going to last forever, you’ve probably
got about 10 years maximum, you’ve got to think ahead
and be sensible with your money’. He suggested that I write
down the things that I’m really good at, and that’s how the
concept of Advocate Agency started really. I launched in
2000 and represent talent who are looking to breakthrough in
entertainment. What started off with just
me and a mobile phone and a PC has
turned into a hub with over 40 clients.
In 2009 you were diagnosed with
lupus and you are now a celebrity
patron for the Saint Thomas Lupus
trust. Do you think we still have a
long way to go in raising awareness
about the disease?
Lupus is such an unknown disease and
yet it affects 150,000 people in the
UK. It’s significant but it’s still largely
unrecognised and misdiagnosed and
that’s when you get into problems. People
aren’t aware of what it is so they don’t get
correctly treated. The symptoms are quite
broad: arthritic symptoms, mouth ulcers,
severe tiredness, the butterfly rush across the nose. Without
medication it can get out of control and it’s a lot harder to deal
with the disease then. So that’s one of the reasons I’m such a
strong advocate for raising awareness of it. I’m very grateful
for each day as you just never know. I had a really bad flare up
after having my daughter and things spiralled out of control.
I had a seizure and lost three days of my life as I don’t know
what had happened. It transpired that the lupus had gone into
my brain hence the seizure. I had to go through chemotherapy
to get the disease under control, but here we are a year later
and I’m back on my feet.
How are you styling your hair at the moment?
My hairdresser is Devon Maxwell Whyte at his salon in West
Kensington. I’ve lost so much of my hair in the last 10 years
due to my illness, but he’s the best person to go through it
with. I remember when he took a weave out for me once and
I had suffered so much hair loss. He came down and made it
work for me. That’s what you need – someone who is really
caring and compassionate, but can also act quickly and fix any
problems you have. Black hair is such a vast subject and the
problems we have can really affect some people. But we are
great with or without our hair. When you go through an illness
it strips you of everything – I didn’t have any hips, curves
or boobs. Somewhere in that you have to find the woman in
you. My husband is great, we celebrate every growth of
hair together.
What does the rest of 2015 have in store for you?
I’ve got a couple of really nice acting projects coming up
which I can’t say too much about at this point. I’m going back
to work tomorrow as I’ve got some clients who are doing some
really exciting things. I’m just very grateful to be back on my
feet, even just doing normal things like running around with
my kids in the park is a blessing to me as I used to have to
watch other people do it for me.
Kelle Bryan is appearing on Flock Stars on ITV this summer.
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