Kimberley Wyatt: Flawless
By Danni Levy
You’d expect a former Pussycat Doll to come out with a bit of theatre. You know, soft lighting and all that. Not Kimberly Wyatt. She jumps on our Zoom straight from a fitness class and still looking an eleven out of ten. I like her. I like her a lot.
Kimberly’s eyes light up when she talks about dance, in a way most blokes could only relate to when talking about football. She could probably even get you into a pair of pointe shoes (they’re ballet shoes, by the way!) “Dance has always been such a huge part of my life and it's taken me all around the world… be you, be fearless, be authentic, never say ‘I can't,’ always say ‘I'll try,”’ she says. Kimberly and husband Max started the Kimberly Wyatt Dance Academy with six kids; now it’s at nearly 200. Her two daughters she describes as being like “little me” and her son also perform. And of all places to settle down with the fam, Kimberly chose the UK over LA. “The US is where I was bornand I lived in LA for 10 years, but the UK was where I felt acceptance when I got on stage as a Pussycat Doll,” she says. “The fans were unreal and that acceptance certainly drove me to keep me coming over and ultimately I just fell in love with Britain. There's a real warmth here.I knew I never wanted to raise a family in LA. I met my husband Max and I’ve been in the UK for over 10 years now. I feel safe, I feel taken care of, and I love the fact there's an NHS and Sunday Roasts!”
Kimberly’s touring show, Don’t Cha Disco, is equally impressive as her Academy. Attracting crowds of up to 30,000 who turn up to move like we used to, instead of spending our evenings scrolling. “It almost doesn't matter the number… it’s all about getting them dancing,” she says. “There's nothing like being on stage with Don't Cha Disco. It serves a big purpose of joy.” Kimberly trained as a DJ at Scratch Academy in New York. She didn’t do it for show. She did it because she intended to use it. “I wanted to bring my first love of dance with the DJing and pull it together,” she says. And that’s bang on what she’s achieved. “Dance always drove the success of the (Pussycat) Dolls… our biggest awards were for best dancing in video.”
As it turns out, prancing around in heels isn’t as easy on the body as it is on the eye. “Gosh it was hard being a Pussycat Doll and dancing in heels for an hour and a half,” says Kimberly. “We were really breaking our bodies for it.” She also casually mentions the kind of names you only heard together in early-2000s LA. “Performing at Johnny Depp's Viper Room with Dr. Dre, or Christina Aguilera, or Gwen Stefani was epic,” she says. “People like Scarlett Johansson and Charlize Theron would come along to band together and support each other. I’m a shy girl at heart. I started out with very little confidence and I didn't love the way that I looked. I could get lost in leaps and choreography and in that I found something beautiful and pretty.”
If, like me, you’re jaw to the floor over Kimberly’s insane body shape, there’s not much rest to be had for the missus if you want her to match it! “With three kids I do cook a lot,” she says. “I make a lot of eggs and salads- I make a caprese almost every day for me and my husband with prosciutto and avocado and tomatoes. My fitness regime includes boxing style classes, pilates at least three times a week and the Dance Academy four days a week. I love cycling along the canals and the moment too. Then there are rehearsals for Don’t Cha Disco, so it’s pretty non stop movement.” Her “guilty pleasure” is sushi by the way, so forget the fried chicken bucket!
As host of The Hits Radio ThrowBack show on a Sunday evening, gets to “pull back the curtain, play throwback classics and connect with people every single week.” Her favourite guilty pleasure? A good old Christmas playlist.
“I do love a good Christmas playlist,” she admits. “And Love Actually is up there with my favourite movies of all time. We host Christmas every year with friends and family who come from as far as Australia. We do all the trimmings, decorate cookies and gingerbread houses with the kids- the whole works.”
Before we sign off, there’s one thing I truly needed to know. Her dream collab…
“Kylie Minogue would be mega to work with,” she says. “I’m often told I look a bit like Kylie Minogue when I get dressed up. I even stepped in for her with a track with Taio Cruz when she couldn't make the gig, so I feel I have a connection with her.”
Move over Kardashians! The new Kim and Kylie could be about to break through…
@kimberlywyatt @dontchadisco @kimberlywyattdanceacademy @hitsradiouk
