SHE SAYS SHE'S THE PERFECT PARTNER, SO HOW COME GERI IS SINGLE SPICE AGAIN?

By Louise Gannon photography By Simon Fraser

Five weeks ago, Geri Halliwell called time on yet another relationship. Seven months after meeting 29-year-old dancer Ivan ‘Flipz’ Velez, she phoned him up to announce that their short-lived romance was over. It was typical Geri. Never one to mess around, she took control of her failing romance and decided she was better off on her own.

But you can’t help wondering whether – despite the mega-watt smile – she’s feeling a little deflated. After all, her fellow Spices are loved-up and settled down. Surely there’s a part of her that regrets going it alone again? Not so, she insists: “I’m single. That’s fine. I’m happy. I know a lot of people in relationships walking around saying that everything is perfect when it isn’t.”

So why is it that someone who seemingly has it all finds it so hard to hold on to love? Is she – whisper it – a bit of a love-diva, as some exes have suggested? Are men intimidated by her girl power? She shakes her head and gives that deep, throaty, Geri laugh. “I actually think I’m a great girlfriend. I’m very easy to please,” the 36 year old exclaims.

“I do feel sorry for men these days. It must be very confusing because a lot of women now want to be wooed – but they also want to do exactly what they want to do. I know so many women who work hard, have a great life, and don’t have a man.”

Don’t get Geri wrong. For all her bravado, there’s a part of the former pop princess that yearns for her own happy ever after. “I’d love to be in a long relationship,” she says. “I love the idea of the swan that mates for life, but I don’t know how to get that. I don’t know if anyone does. All I can say is I’m very open. I don’t think I’m intimidating in any way – I’ll chat to anyone.”

And Geri loves to talk. Even as she walks into the north London studio where we meet, she’s chatting constantly, coming up with ideas for the shoot, asking everyone’s opinion on what colour nail varnish to wear, and what they think of her newly dyed hair.

She says: “I’ve been honey blonde for a long time, and I wanted to shake myself ?out of that comfort zone. It took a lot more confidence for me to be a brunette. It’s less try-hard, less ‘please like me’.”

Geri’s life has been marked by as many crashing lows as dramatic highs. As a fame-obsessed youngster, her early years were shattered by the death of her father when she was just 21. Her quest for recognition ended when she joined the Spice Girls – yet at the height of the band’s success, Geri quit to embark on a solo career. In her autobiography, she revealed that she felt suffocated by the band and suffered from chronic bouts of bulimia, anorexia and cripplingly low self-esteem.

High-profile relationships with Chris Evans and Robbie Williams floundered. And even the joy of finding out she was pregnant was marred by a difficult relationship with daughter Bluebell’s scriptwriter dad, Sacha Gervasi, who she split from months before the birth.

Yet far from being sad and lonely, Geri says she’s happier and more confident than ever. The big difference for Geri is that she has suddenly found the confidence she lacked for much of her life after giving birth to her daughter Bluebell, now two.

“A lot of it is to do with motherhood,” she confirms. “People have seen me as this ballsy Spice Girl… this LA super-thin yoga freak… and now a mum. “I’ve changed throughout those years. Behind that super-confident, loud character was a very fearful girl who was always expecting to be found out.

“Motherhood has changed me. In the past, I always had my hang-ups, believing I wasn’t pretty enough, or a good enough singer, or thin enough. But now I’m much more accepting of myself. “A lot of my body issues have naturally settled down. I don’t work out because I don’t want to sacrifice any time I can spend with Bluebell,” she adds.

“I have a history of eating disorders but, as a mother, you think about being an example to your child. I eat healthily, drink lots of water and try to get lots of sleep – I’m so much more balanced than I was.

“A little while ago, I wore a bikini in a photo shoot, which was sort of terrifying. I look in the mirror and see things I don’t like, such as my big apple cheeks, but I’m grown up enough to realise that chasing after perfection is mad. You have to let go and accept that you may not be perfect, but you’re good enough.”

Geri refuses to resort to Botox or cosmetic surgery to maintain her looks. She says: “I’m just accepting the fact that I’m getting older. Who would I be injecting poison into my face for? I mean, would I do it to prolong my career or appear more attractive to men? We’re all getting older – you just have to go with it.”

Far from making her feel like a relic, going back out on the road with the Spice Girls this year was a positive experience. In Geri’s own words, it was one big moment of “closure”. “I so loved doing the tour,” she says. “It was incredibly important to re-bond with the girls, and we did. I’ve always seen a lot of Victoria and Emma, but it was so great to get back with Mel B and Mel C.”

Denying rumours of a further rift after reports that the girls weren’t invited to Mel B’s marriage blessing in Egypt, Geri laughs: “We all still speak, and the tour resolved loads of things. I see Victoria when I’m in LA, and we’re all delighted about Mel’s blessing. I don’t know about another reunion. I’d never say never.”

As she talks, Geri’s eyes constantly twinkle. The real reason for the huge smile that’s a permanent fixture on her face is the fact that, regardless of her recent split, Geri has finally found true love. No, it’s not a man – it’s the belief she’s discovered her true vocation in life as a children’s author. Her series of books about the adventures of Ugenia Lavender have been enthusiastically received by critics and children alike.

The books tell the tale of a mischievous redhead (sound familiar?), the daughter ?of a dinosaur expert and TV presenter, who struggles to find friends at school and make her own life exciting.

“The biggest thrill for me is not just writing but seeing how kids respond,” she says. “I love doing book signings because the kids relate to me just as this woman who writes the Ugenia Lavender books. That’s so liberating for me. They don’t have preconceptions, and they come out with totally honest opinions.”

But the best thing of all for Geri is that her success has proved her detractors wrong. “When I first came up with the idea, I had an agent who pushed the manuscript away, saying: ‘This won’t work. Celebrity children stories just don’t work.’

“But as he was talking to me, there was a huge storm outside and a tree in my garden crashed down. It could have gone on to the house but instead it fell the opposite way on to the street, and I took it as a sign that I wasn’t going to be flattened by this ‘no’. If I’d believed everyone when they told me ‘no’, I’d be working in a bar in Watford right now.” Geri certainly understands how to seize an opportunity, and she’s keen to point out the helping hand that she’s had in another celebrity’s huge success.

“I’m so proud of Cheryl Cole,” she says. “I’m the one who basically picked her on Popstars: The Rivals – I really fought to put her through. I love that I opened that little window of opportunity for her and how she’s run with it.” And fairy godmother Geri also lays claim to fellow Spice Mel C’s pregnancy.

“I do always say Bluebell is like some sort of fertility doll. Five friends got pregnant after playing with her, and then Melanie gets pregnant after the tour!” she laughs. Having more children herself – a brother or sister for Bluebell – is definitely on Geri’s radar, and as a single woman, she’s even considering adoption.

“Yes, I’d like to have more kids,” she says. “But I can’t say it will happen. I also think about adopting, and it’s something I want to give a lot more serious thought to – but who knows what the future holds?”

• Geri Halliwell’s book series, Ugenia Lavender (Macmillan Children’s Books, £6.99 each), is available now. Audio books, read by Geri, are available on CD (£8.99) and can also be downloaded from Ugenialavender.com.

Photography: goffinf, rex, splash hair: jamie pritchard using redken real control make-up: charlotte reid at onemakeup.com assisted by emma moore nails: leighton denny using criminal nail colour in jailbird styling: emily barnes aT jed root stylist’s assistant: rebecca ann kelsey