Nicole Scherzinger. Mike Marsland/WireImage
Nicole Scherzinger may have just finished tearing up the West End stage as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, but she hasn’t forgotten where she came from.
“It was such a whirlwind,” Scherzinger, 46, exclusively told Us Weekly while reflecting on her time with the Pussycat Dolls. “It’s kind of crazy. So much happened so fast for the Dolls.”
Though Scherzinger regularly topped the charts in the aughts with the group, the Masked Singer judge said her proudest Dolls moment was the act’s 2019 reunion.
“I’m really proud of when we came back together,” she explained. “The pandemic happened and we weren’t able to tour, but we came back together for our song ‘React’ and performed on The X Factor, and I was proud of that. We hadn’t been together for, like, 10 years, and then we got together for a week and just put that up on stage.”
Scherzinger went on to say that she was thrilled to see how her former bandmates had changed since their initial 2010 split.
“I was mostly proud because of the women that we had evolved into,” she explained. “That we could come together and say, ‘Wow, life is so much bigger than petty things.’ And half the girls have children, you know what I mean? And families. And that growth as women, of coming together and being supportive of each other — I think that’s what made me the most happy, that we could do that. And I still love and support the girls.”
Nicole Scherzinger performs with the Pussycat Dolls. Kevin Winter/Getty Images for DCPNYE
Scherzinger, who’ll make her Broadway debut this fall in another run of Sunset Boulevard, is similarly effusive when discussing her days in the short-lived girl group Eden’s Crush.
“I’m so grateful for it because little did I know that [Eden’s Crush] would prepare me to lead the Dolls, you know?” she told Us. “I was so green when I did that. If anybody saw the series that we did, [The WB’s Popstars], it was at the forefront of the whole reality talent search series. It was such a really green time for me. And like I said, it’s prepared me for what I was supposed to do. And it’s crazy when you’re young, you think you know it all, but you don’t. You’re still growing and trying to figure out who you are as a person, as a woman, as a musician, as an artist. And so it’s nice. I’m really grateful that I’ve lived a life where now I’m brave enough to write the music that I want to write and to do work on my own terms now.”
Scherzinger spoke to Us earlier this month while headlining a special Wimbledon concert at The Hill in New York City. She was happy to return to the States after spending much of last year in England while performing on London’s West End.
“Coming back — it’s a dream,” she told Us. “I saw U2 perform under the Brooklyn Bridge once. … And to think that we get to perform under the Brooklyn Bridge, it’s so magical. It’s really special. And to bring everybody together — not only here but from across the pond as well — it’s really special, especially with this kicking off my run of Sunset. Coming here, doing this, getting to be with the fans, singing the songs, my songs with everybody, and then in a few months, this is going to be my new home.”
Read more in this week’s new issue of Us Weekly — which includes 12 additional pages, a redesigned look and new franchises readers will love — on newsstands now.
With reporting by Nikaline McCarley
