A Song For My Angel Geri & George's Hidden Love

A touching tribute to the man who became her father figure

- Emma Jones

Not many people can say they’ve been invited to a Spice Girl’s house for tea. Even fewer can say they spent the entire day at Ginger Spice’s house. But it wasn’t planned that way.

Our photo shoot with Geri Horner (née Halliwell) the previous day had run late and we were invited to do the interview at her London home the next morning. So Woman’s Day arrives at 10am and we then have to wait five hours until the chat actually starts.

Normally, that might annoy us a bit, but we’ve never met anyone quite as infectious as Geri. Baby toys are scattered on the floor, and there are prams, bikes, family photos and towers of Disney DVDs everywhere.

This happy chaos is evidence that the once crazy life of the ’90s pop icon has finally morphed into a family-focused existence with her husband, Formula 1 boss Christian Horner, their gorgeous six-month-old son Monty and her 11-year-old daughter Bluebell.

We’re here to talk about Geri’s new single “Angels in Chains” and the man who inspired it, her dear friend George Michael, who died last Christmas Day. It’s been six months since the music legend was discovered lifeless in his bed by his hairdresser boyfriend Fadi Fawaz. The coroner ruled two months later that the singer had died of natural causes.

Over numerous coffees, biscuits, chips and dip, 44-year-old Geri talks with heartbreaking honesty about the friend who was her rock through good times and bad. A friend she still sometimes talks about in the present tense as if he’s still only a phone call away.