Sugababes’ Keisha Buchanan reveals she was ‘kidnapped’ from school
The incident caused the singer to miss her GCSEs.
Sugababes star Keisha Buchanan has revealed she was kidnapped at the age of 16, just as the girl group was on the brink of fame.
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The 41-year-old singer said the traumatic ordeal happened shortly before her GCSEs, at the same time Sugababes were beginning to take off.
“I had this incident right before my GCSEs, where I was kidnapped,” she said.
The incident caused her parents to decide it was no longer safe for the star to go to school, resulting in her missing her GCSEs.
“Because it was quite a traumatic experience, my parents were like, ‘Yeah, so we’re going to do a different type of education,’” the singer told the Live, Laugh, Luke podcast.
“So I kind of finished my education, but I just couldn’t do my GCSEs.”
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Buchanan said she is keeping the full details private for now, explaining: “The details I have to leave because one day it’s going to be in my book. But I was basically taken after school by someone.”
She said she was held for several hours, adding: “It was a few hours. So for a kid, you know, it’s a long time.”
The singer also revealed she sought therapy afterwards to deal with the trauma.
Despite the ordeal, Buchanan said she threw herself back into work as the group launched their career.
“I think I just sort of blocked it and then had to just get back into promotion of our first single,” she said.
Buchanan added only fellow member Siobhan Donaghy was allowed to return to school to sit her GCSEs after all three original members left to record Sugababes’ debut album, One Touch, over two years.
Although she initially said her parents took her out of school following the kidnapping, Buchanan also suggested she was later refused re-entry when she tried to return for her exams.
She said: “We ended up leaving school. Siobhan went back to school to take her GCSEs and they accepted her back.
“When Mutya and I tried to get back, they were so rude.
“They were like, ‘Oh no, no, no, you’re not coming back. You guys thought you were going to be these pop stars. Let’s see what’s going to happen.’
“So they wouldn’t accept us back."
The Sugababes formed as a group in the 90s but has had a changing line up over the years.
Former members include: Heidi Range, Amelle Berrabah, and Jade Ewen.
The 41-year-old singer first joined the group at the age of 13 and they signed their first record contract in 1998.
Siobhan left in 2001, while Mutya left in 2005 - but the group reunited in 2011.