News Of The World - August 2002 I'VE FOUND A MAN WHO MAKES ME HAPPY
"I think we all know that relationships haven't been one of my strong points," she says, shooting him a smile. "It's early days for us but Demian makes me happy and that's all I could ask for. That's enough for me. This is my first proper relationship for ages." Former Spice Girl Geri, whose astonishing new autobiography Just For The Record is serialised in the News of the World from next week, looks a long-overdue picture of health and happiness as we chat. She and Demian reportedly met in an LA rehabilitation clinic where they were both supposedly receiving therapy.
"For the first month, I even got his name wrong, poor thing, and kept calling him Damian." But Demian had problems of his own—he didn't realise this girl called Geri was a star. "Then, one day, we were at a rodeo together," Geri smiles, "and someone screamed, ‘Oh my God, you're Geri Halliwell!' Demian thought it was bizarre that a complete stranger would know who I was but, after that, the cat was kind of out of the bag." "But we have a very normal, down-to-earth relationship. We still like going to the pet shop, getting the puppies out and pretending we're going to buy them." Screams "And the other thing we like doing is just going down the arcade, hanging out and playing the fruit machines. There's nothing remotely showbiz about us. "Over the last few months, I've remembered what it's like to be a human being again and I've really been enjoying it.
"But they can also get on your nerves because all they want to talk about is showbiz! "Life is a messy experience and, in the past, I simply wasn't ready to commit. I think becoming famous arrested my development. "I was emotionally immature and, as a result, unable to have strong, intimate relationships with men. "I appreciate that, for Demian, there's an awful lot of baggage to take on board and it requires a huge amount of tolerance. It's not glamorous. Only time will tell how he copes with my fame." And how is she coping with her new role as a judge, along with record producer Pete Waterman and Boyzone manager Louis Walsh, on TV's Popstars: The Rivals? "Pete called me on my mobile while I was driving down to San Francisco and asked me to be on the show," Geri explains. "He flattered me basically and we hit it off immediately. Pete is going to produce my next album. "And you know what the weird thing is? My mother saw him on telly and said: ‘He looks so much like your father!' So now I think I'm Pete's secret love child!" Geri is momentarily floored when I tell her that Louis hasn't been nearly so supportive, branding her a "talent-less, tone-deaf fame seeker". "You know what?" she says, recovering quickly, "Louis is a cutie and I get on with them both. We have this secret guessing game we play sometimes, called Spot The Song, because sometimes we can't even recognise the song that's being sung it's so bad. "And that's made me realise that sometimes we take our own talents for granted—because I'm thinking, ‘You know what? I'm really good!' She adds: "I feel very privileged to be in this powerful position. I have the power to make or break someone's life. I believe that I have a gift for spotting talent. "I can spot sparkle in someone but if I feel that someone can take me being a bit brutal then—without crushing their dreams completely—I'll say exactly what I feel. "I told one girl, ‘You're as good as someone I've just put through and you're equally as beautiful, but you're only half-hearted about this, so I'm not prepared to put you through because of your attitude'. Teeth "I'm interviewing for a very coveted pop job and I'm just not going to give that opportunity to someone who only half wants it. "But it swings both ways. There was this guy with a dreadful goatee beard who auditioned and didn't get picked. He hadn't been to stage school or anything—he was just a carpet fitter. But he had such ambition and raw talent that I told him to go away, shave off his goatee then come back and try again. And now he's through. That really lifted my spirits. "Sometimes you get these stage school showbiz luvvies and, even when you're telling them that they're not going through, they're still grinning, all eyes and teeth, going, ‘Oh, thank you very much', and being all redcoat about it. It's...interesting." But how does Geri cope with the famous people who criticise her? Robbie Williams described her as "a demonic little girl". Then, six months ago, George Michael accused her of being "obsessed with hype". He said: "The real truth is that Geri is a lovely girl and, in some ways, she's a remarkable person. "But it's very difficult to maintain a relationship with a person who lives for the press...when all I want to do is run away from that." Still, Geri clearly has a thick skin and what's said in the heat of the moment doesn't seem to have any lasting effect. "I last spoke to George on his birthday, back in June," she says. "I love George. He's like my older brother and I hope he's in my life forever. "As for Rob, he's the only living being in this whole planet who knows how I feel about leaving the Spice Girls. We have a relationship that's very brotherly-sisterly, very matey. "But people come in and out of each other's lives like travelling companions." So what about her old ‘travelling companions', the Spice Girls? "I loved being part of a team and I did miss being part of the band," she says. "I still dream about them. "But there comes that point in your life when you just have to move on. And I have." source: news of the world  |
POP
queen Geri Halliwell has finally found the lover who can help her change her life.
She has swapped a string of celebrity boyfriends for quiet, self-effacing Demian
Walker...and she couldn't be more pleased. 
The
26-year-old American is a subject that Geri prefers to keep private, but when
pressed, she agrees to put the record straight. "We met
in a pet shop in California, looking at puppies," she says. "And,
if I remember rightly, I was looking pretty hideous. It wasn't a good hair day!
But
they always say you meet someone when you least expect it, and that couldn't be
more true for me. Finding a boyfriend was absolutely the last thing on my mind
when I met Demian." 
"On
the one hand, when you date someone famous they know exactly what it feels like
to be in the glare of 10,000 people screaming at you and exactly how drained you
feel at the end of the day.