Nicole Scherzinger Didn’t Feel ‘Comfortable’ in Pussycat Dolls Wardrobe: We Were ‘Sexy for Others’
Nicole Scherzinger brought the sex appeal during her time with The Pussycat Dolls — but that doesn’t mean she was a fan of their risqué wardrobe.
“I just wasn’t comfortable wearing those clothes,” Scherzinger, 46, told Vogue in an interview published on Thursday, August 22, referring to the girl group’s revealing outfits, which played up their ties to the burlesque world.
Scherzinger, who joined choreographer Robin Antin’s group in 2003, added, “I was a singer first, always.”
The Pussycat Dolls — which also included Kimberly Wyatt, Melody Thornton, Jessica Sutta, Ashley Roberts and Carmit Bachar — rose to success in the early 2000s with hits including “Don’t Cha” and “Buttons.”
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In addition to their voices, the Dolls’ garnered attention for their sexy costumes on stage. However, in time, Scherzinger said she was “able to find my own style” and dial down the amount of skin she showed on stage.
Scherzinger credited stylist Andrea Lieberman with helping her find a wardrobe that represented her true aesthetic. Her “most comfortable” look was inspired by “Gwen Stefani meets Will.i.am,” she recalled.
Looking back, Scherzinger thinks the girls were hypersexualized for the sake of selling records. “I think the initial idea of the Dolls was to be sexy for others,” she told the outlet, noting things have shifted in the music industry.
“I think for the women of today, their sex appeal is for themselves,” Scherzinger explained. “Real strength is loving yourself, embracing yourself.”
The musician previously spoke about having body dysmorphia while in the Dolls, telling the Sunday Times in June, “It was difficult for me in the beginning because I didn’t feel comfortable in my skin.”
Scherzinger clarified that she “didn’t feel exploited at all” in the group “because I was in control of what I was doing.” However, she said it did take time before she got to “wear clothes that I felt empowered in.”
Scherzinger, who is making her Broadway debut in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard, has found her own “self-acceptance and love” since leaving the group in 2010, telling Vogue that both things are “always a work in progress.”
In 2019, the ladies reunited and confirmed they were embarking on The Pussycat Dolls Tour in 2020. After postponing the tour amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Scherzinger surprised fans in January 2022 when she announced it was canceled.
Bachar, 49, and Sutta, 42, claimed at the time that they were “incredibly disappointed” to learn about the tour’s fate via Scherzinger’s Instagram announcement. Founder Antin, meanwhile, hinted it was Scherzinger’s fault the tour didn’t work out.
“All of us have made personal & financial sacrifices, but that’s what it takes to be a team player in a ‘BAND,’” she wrote via social media in January 2022. “Let’s not forget there are 5 other members of this group who I care for deeply, who deserve to be heard. … There are truths to this situation, I just hope one day they see the light.”
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Despite the drama at the end, Scherzinger has a lot of love for her “whirlwind” career as a Pussycat Doll.
“I’m really proud of when we came back together,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in July. “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 gushed over her former bandmates and how far they’ve come since they first formed in the early aughts.
“I was mostly proud because of the women that we had evolved into,” the singer 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.”
