Nicola Roberts - Philanthropy

Philanthropy

With the start of her music career, Roberts starting noting that other girls were dressing more "glamorous" than she was, and at aged 16 during her auditions for Popstars The Rivals she wished to look like them. It was at these times that Roberts would feel unattractive due to her pale complexion and soon began using fake-tan to darken her skin tone into what she later described as a "dirty mess" but at the time made her feel more attractive. Due to her pale skin tone Roberts found herself easily burning in the sun which led to chronic pain and during the shoot of the Girls Aloud single "Love Machine" she had trouble filming due to severe burns which left her wanting to visit the hospital. During her time with Girls Aloud she filmed a television special titled Passions for which she travelled to Taiwan where she learnt about natural skin products, something she had been interested in due to her pale complexion and led her to develop the make-up line Dainty Doll. Following this Roberts began a stance against tanning which saw her produce and star in a BBC Three investigative documentary titled Nicola Roberts: The Truth About Tanning in which she revealed her own personal tanning issues and those of men and women throughout the UK who have excessively used tanning beds. She met families of those deceased from melanoma who were actively pushing for a change in law for a ban on tanning beds for under 18's which provoked Roberts to become an advocate for the ban of underage usage of tanning beds, and with the help of British MP Julie Morgan the pair produced a bill to ban under 18's from using sun-beds. At the launch of the bill Roberts said "Going into the streets of Liverpool and interviewing the young girls who are obsessed with having a tan and feeling like they had to be brown to be seen as attractive, that whole mentality that they had gathered was just a bigger problem than I ever thought it was."

"The internet has really highlighted this issue. It shows us how easy it is for people to pass judgement on others and it also shows us that people now have a place for expression. Whether it be twitter or blog posts it gives people a place to offload. Whenever I have bought somebody's record I always flick through and search for the ones that I really relate to at that time, they become my favourites, I play that song to death and then the rest of the album gets its chance. Music is there to milk an emotion I think. Whether it be a party track when you want to feel sky high or an emotional song when you need something to draw out how you feel inside. That's my sticks+stones and it's so comforting to know that it's yours too. I'm going to try my best to speak to Micheal Gove the educational secretary about how we can work out a better support system in schools for people finding themselves in unbearable situations every time they walk through the school gate… I'll keep you posted on that. Wish me luck!

—Roberts discussing Cinderella's Eyes track "Sticks + Stones" and her advocacy for anti-bullying which stemmed from writing the track.

After winning Popstars The Rivals becoming one fifth of Girls Aloud Roberts soon found herself subject to bullying. She was branded "the ugly one" of the group, and would often "cry herself to sleep" finding herself to be a victim of "faceless" bullying fuelled by celebrities such as Chris Moyles and Lily Allen. Soon after the comments had an effect on her mental stability after suffering from an "identity crisis" the taunts brought her close to a breakdown leaving her feeling "miserable and confused" and finding comfort in alcohol. Prior to her fame Roberts never found flaws with her red hair calling it a "prized possession" but after critics picked up on her image she saw it as a flaw with Roberts explaining "I hated it and I hated people judging me. I'd put on the telly and there'd be someone saying something cruel, or I'd open up a magazine and read it. Normal people don't have people telling them day to day they're ugly or miserable. I'd think, "stop being so vain, you've got this amazing job" but it wasn't enough. It didn't stop me feeling bad". "People feel they can say nasty things and have anonymity behind the net – as they did with all the nasty comments about me – without fear of recrimination", Roberts said, and five years after the bullying she found herself in a "better place", with critics commenting on her image positively with writers such as Clemmie Moodie from British newspaper Daily Mirror saying "the 25-year-old radiates confidence and, with a string of fashion successes has blossomed."

Roberts then wrote the track "Sticks + Stones" in response to these times, finding herself cautioned by the serious subject matter, she wanted to write a track that was not self-indulgent featuring a "universal" chorus" and lyrics such as "I was too young for so many things. Yet you thought I'd cope with being told I'm ugly". After the release of her debut album Cinderella's Eyes which featured the track Roberts appeared on the British television show BBC Breakfast to discuss bullying in relation to the track. Soon after she advocated the issue on BBC News where they discussed the lyrical themes of the track, and during the interview Roberts named social networking site Twitter as being a tool of which highlights the severity of the bullying issue finding the problem to be "out of control" in a schooling environment. Roberts continued to advocate the bullying-issue and with an interview to Rolling Stone Roberts stated she was "sick" of an image-driven society. After her success with the anti-tanning bill Roberts took a similar stance with bullying saying "it doesn't need to happen" and found that British laws were failing to combat the issue with Roberts saying "People are still scared to go to school, kids are threatening to kill themselves; it's disgusting that it persists. So, again, I'm giving a voice to a cause, to hopefully affect change." Roberts then progressed to the British education secretary Michael Gove to raise the issue.