Family and childhood:

Joanne Valda O'Meara was born in April 29th 1979, in Romford Essex. In her family there's five persons icluding her: mum Barbara, dad Dave, older sister Julie and older brother Shane.

Jo's school years were a nightmare from the age of 10 to 14. She was bullied by some girls of her class. They called her names, beat her up and threw her down the stairs.

"I used to get physically and mentally bullied. It ruined me. When I was 13 I was having nightmares and wetting the bed. I didn't want to live. I ended up in hospital with my stomach being pumped because I'd taken an overdose."

Early career:

Her singing career started in the age of 12, when she sang karaoke in the bar called Locomotion. After school and before S Club she worked in a pet shop and a local Spar. Later she was a singer in a country - and western style pub Wild Jack Henry's. She was also part of bands called Solid HarmoniE and 2 - 4 Family.

S Club 7:

Jo hit the fame in 1999 with S Club 7, a pop group created by former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller. Over the four years they were together, S Club 7 had four UK number one singles, one UK number one album and had at least one number one single in four different countries. They were also known for their tv-series. Her fellow band members were Bradley McIntosh, Hannah Spearritt, Jon Lee, Paul Cattermole ( who left the band in 2002 ), Rachel Stevens and Tina Barrett. In April 2003 S Club announced live on stage that they were to split up.

"I loved every minute of our time together. In five years we had number one singles and albums, made a movie, performed for the Queen, travelled the world... But in the end we all felt we'd achieved everything we could achieve. We went out on a high".

After S Club:

After the split Jo decided to have some time off to relax and also heal her back.

"I took a holiday, stayed at home with my family, went to the shops and went out for dinner."

"I wanted to get away from the puclic eye and not be famous for a while."

Back problems:

After she took a tumble off a bike in October 2002 while filming Viva S Club in Barcelona she suffered twinges in her lower back. The pain didn't go away so she went to see a doctor for an MRI scan.

"The discs in your spine should look white, but three of mine had gone completely black, which means they're f**ked!"

She refused an operation and decided to go for steroid injections, physiotherapy and Reiki healing instead. All though the situation wasn't as bad as people thought ( "People would come up and ask how long I'd got!" ) she was in almost constant pain.

"The papers writing that I was going to end up in a wheelchair. That was nonsense. What I needed was to rest my back."

Bulimia and putting on weight:

"There was a moment on tour when I got caught, with Rachel and Jon banging on the toilet door asking 'What are you doing?' and me saying 'I'm all right... I'll be out in a minute.' Of course, I wasn't all right."

When suffering horrible pain because of her back problems she comforted herself with junk food and started gaining weight. She was unconfident of herself when her bandmates Rachel, Tina and Hannah were "size zero girls".

"Then I got depressed that I was getting fat so I'd eat even more. At my heaviest, I was 11st 3lbs."

2004 after her back improved she she started losing weight. She didn't do punishing workouts and weird diets but ate her favourite food in moderation.

"Slowly, as I got older, I started seeing myself differently. Now I think it's nice to have curves. I have a new philosophy: I am what I am and what you see is what you get. If you don't like it, don't look."

Solo:

During her break after S Club she also was working on her solo album. The first and only single What Hurts The Most was released on 26th September 2005 and the album Relentless on 3rd October 2005.

"This is very much a new beginning for me and I'm feeling very nervous but also excited about it. What Hurts The Most is a more mature song than I would have sung with the band so I don't know what to expect."

However neither the single nor the album were hits and Jo left her record company Sanctuary Records.

The Richard Carpenter thing:

"Richard ( American song-writing legend ) heard me sing Never Had A Dream Come True and said that my voice was the closest to his sister's he'd heard since she died. He wanted me to go out to the States to record with him, which was absolutely unbelievable. But I didn't feel ready to leave my family and live there, so I didn't follow it up, which was maybe silly of me."

Just The Two Of Us:

In February 2006 she took part in the BBC gameshow Just the Two of Us. Her singing partner was Chris Fountain, an actor in Hollyoaks. There were rumours of them being together but they neither confirmed nor denied them. The pair came third in the competition.

Celebrity Big Brother 2007:

In January 2007 Jo entered the Celebrity Big Brother house. The reason Jo took part in the show was to pay off her £34,000 debt. There were accusations of racistic bullying towards Indian Shilpa Shetty by Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd, Jack Tweed and Jo O'Meara. After Jo left the house and found out about the situation she felt devastated. She even tried to kill herself but luckily her best friend found her in time.

"I felt angry and destroyed. It was mad. It was this international fury. I was being deluged with hate-mail and threats. I was forced into hiding. It was scary and I just wanted to disappear. When I got out of the house, everything was thrown at me and I really didn't understand it. I mean how do you get your head round that? Well not very well, obviously. I thought I had lost everything."

Pregnancy:

In January 2008 she revealed that she is 6 months pregnant. Although Jo and the father of the child separated he'll be for their support.

"To be honest, it wasn't planned, but it's a very nice surprise. I'm nervous at the thought of a little person calling me mum, but it's a very happy way to begin 2008. Right now, I'm enjoying being interested in life again. I've learned a lot in the past year. I think the whole experience has made me a better person. I think it was meant to happen – to give me a kick up the backside. This feels like a fresh start to me – new year, new baby, new purpose. I'm grateful for that."