AS SHE HEADS FOR BROADWAY NICOLE SCHERZINGER ON HEALING FROM 'OLD WOUNDS' AND FEELING MORE CONFIDENT IN HER 40S

After her acclaimed stint in London’s West End, former Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger is gearing up to make her Broadway debut in Jamie Lloyd’s reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard.

- PHOEBE TATHAM

And for Nicole, performing as lead character Norma Desmond – a role she says she’s been “waiting for my whole life” – has been a transformative process. In an exclusive interview with hello!, she tells us: “It’s just helped me to heal a lot of old wounds; a lot of old insecurities, a lot of fears that I’ve had.

“I think that it’s helped me to let go of a lot of things that weren’t serving me. The role is very raw and very real. There’s no vanity in it whatsoever. It’s just really opened me up a lot… It’s just been such a healing, transformational time for me.”

The Honolulu-born star continues: “The role battles with a lot of issues – a lot of issues of abandonment and loneliness – and in some ways I feel parallel to Norma at times. So being able to open up my heart and my soul and be so truthful on stage every night, it’s just cathartic.

“It just feels like you’re not hiding from anything. You’re not running from anything. You’re just being brave to look your deepest, darkest fears and insecurities in the eye every single night. And so you’re forced to heal from that.”

While Nicole says she was “born to be on stage”, she confesses that she feels more confident now than she’s ever done before. During her time as one sixth of iconic girl group the Pussycat Dolls, the singer leant into the music as a way to bolster her self-confidence.