Geri Horner recalled being told about her father’s death as she described how the events inspired her new children’s book.
The singer’s father, Laurence, died of a heart attack in 1993, a year before she joined the Spice Girls.
Speaking on Lorraine on Wednesday, Geri, 51, explained that she accidentally wrote about her own experiences when she wrote Rosie Frost and the Falcon Queen.
Her new young adult novel follows orphan Rosie Frost, who is sent to a mysterious island that is home to extraordinary teenagers and also a refuge for endangered species.
Geri said she hoped it would inspire young readers to “find their own strength and fortitude” in the face of challenges.
Geri Horner, 51, remembers being told about her father’s death as she described how the events inspired her new children’s book
When asked by host Mark Heyes if he thought the book was “semi-autobiographical,” she agreed.
The singer explained: “It was hard. I was in class. I was taken out of class and told what had happened to my father and found myself writing it down to Rosie.
“Then I realized I had put myself in the book.”
In the opening chapter, the character is told that her mother died while she was still in school.
Speaking in 2017 in the BBC documentary Geri’s 1990s: My Drive to Freedom, the former pop star revealed how the devastating loss of her father in 1993 fueled her desire to succeed.
“I was just in my own little zone, what really blew me away was the November period.” [when] My father has died. “I was almost paralyzed with grief, I didn’t have the right tools to process it,” Geri explained.
“I have this theory, I don’t know if it’s true, but I think success comes from three things: one is preparation, one is opportunity and one is necessity.”
Grief: Speaking on Lorraine on Wednesday, Geri explained that she had inadvertently come to write about her own experiences while writing Rosie Frost and the Falcon Queen
Childhood: The singer’s father, Laurence, died of a heart attack in 1993, a year before she joined the Spice Girls
Hard: The singer explained: “It was hard.” I was in class. I was taken out of class and told what had happened to my father and found myself writing it down in Rosie’s language.
She continued, “I think my father’s death gave me that need, that death energy.”
“It drove me into militant work.” [thinking] “Okay, I’ll do that.”
“That’s where I met the girls in the band. “It was then that I found something to hold on to and distract from the pain and sadness that I didn’t understand.”