Cheryl confesses Sarah Harding 'wasn't ready to die' in heartbreaking last chats

22 September 2023 , 07:34

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Cheryl and Sarah Harding

Cheryl has admitted that her friend Sarah Harding ’s death “changed her perspective' on life.

Sarah tragically passed away in 2021 aged just 39 after a year-long battle with breast cancer. The Girls Aloud singer’s death has left a hole in Cheryl’s life and has meant she doesn't take any days for granted now. The 39-year-old has told how Sarah’s death has brought her “closer” to Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh – with the surviving band members reuniting in honour of their friend at a charity gala for the Sarah Harding Breast Cancer Appeal last year.

Cheryl has candidly opened up about the sad passing of her friend and revealed the profound impact it has had on her. She told the MailOnline : “A lot of conversations we had before she left really sparked a different perspective for me, and I'll carry that.” She heartbreakingly told how she didn’t think Sarah was ready to leave this life.

“She wasn't ready to leave and I think, ‘well I'm still here’ I've got the gift of life to still live, and I'll do it with her in mind. It does shift a lot of things in your own heart.” But Cheryl went on to explain how Sarah’s death has brought her closer to her bandmates, meaning they “appreciate” and “love each other” so much more now.

“We always have loved each other, obviously. But it's just a different, there's a different depth to it all now,” she told the publication. Sarah is set to save thousands of lives in a lasting ­legacy as ambitious new plans to detect breast cancer in younger women are revealed. The doctor who treated the Girls Aloud star for the disease before she died in 2021, aged just 39, wants every woman in the UK to be invited for a risk screening when she turns 30.

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If a study launched in Sarah’s memory is successful, says her oncologist Dr Sacha Howell, it could be rolled out nationwide. Pop-up clinics in handy spots such as supermarket car parks would offer women DNA testing and low-dose mammograms. Unlike regular mammograms, which look for tumours, these examine breast density, believed to identify those at higher risk of breast cancer. Breast cancer is the most common cause of death for women in their 30s, and more than 2,300 aged 39 or under are diagnosed each year.

Lucy Domachowski