In an exclusive interview and photoshoot with HELLO! magazine, Kimberley Walsh has ruled out a Girls Aloud reunion. In the interview, which took place alongside Jay McGuiness, her co-star in forthcoming West End musical Big, Kimberley says her former band won't be following in the recent footsteps of The Spice Girls: "There is no Girls Aloud reunion on the cards right now. The Spice Girls had a phenomenal career but it was very short, over four or five years," she says, comparing it with Girls Aloud’s 11 years together. "We literally lived and breathed each other so I think more time needs to have passed for anybody to get those feelings of getting us back together."
Jay McGuiness looking suave in a Neal & Palmer tux, dress shirt by Emma Willis, Tommy Hilfiger watch and Kurt Geiger shoes
In the interview, Kimberley also reveals that it will be her son Bobby's first day at primary school just hours before she stars in a preview of Big, which will be at London’s Dominion Theatre. "That day will be an emotional roller-coaster!" she tells HELLO! "I will have time with him in the morning, dropping him off and picking him up from school. When I do the show in the evening, I will switch on the other me. I have to do that all the time, because I have always got so many different things going on, like so many of us. The first day of school is such a big deal! I am going to miss Bobby not being there every day, but he is so ready."
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Former The Wanted star Jay McGuiness, who plays the lead role of Josh, famously played by Tom Hanks in the 1988 film on which the musical is based on, says he and Kimberley bonded from the start. "I have met Kimberley a few times through the pop circuit and she is great and really down-to-earth," Jay tells HELLO! "I just think she is brilliant. We have chatted about our similar experiences on Strictly and it’s definitely common ground for us."
And he says he will recreate the movie's most famous scene, when a grown-up Josh performs on a giant light-up floor piano in a toy store. "It's one of the funniest bits about it, it's like a giant dance mat, it's almost like playing a video game," he explained. "And it’s something I don’t have to act out as I am enjoying myself up there!"
Jay McGuiness and Kimberley Walsh star in BIG The Musical at London's Dominion Theatre from 6 September to 2 November 2019. For more information, visit www.BigTheMusical.co.uk.
To read the full interview, pick up the latest copy of HELLO!, out Monday 22 July
