Smash Hits Yearbook 1996

Louise Nurding on the Couch

What's your first childhood memory?
Bouncing around to the Nolans song I'm In The Mood For Dancing in my living room at home. I must have been about three when that came out. I thought it was great - that and another Nolans classic, Don't Love Me Too Hard!

Were you ever picked on at school or were you a bully?
I was never picked on and never bullied either. If anyone else was being bullied, I tried to step in to help them, but no one ever picked on me. Even at a young age I would always stick up for somebody if they were having a hard time.

What's the most embarrassed you've ever been in front of your mother/father?
When I was about 13 I filled out a sex questionnaire thing with my friend and just left it lying around in my room. (Laughs) It was asking really sexual questions and me and my friend were just making up the answers, I mean, we hadn't actually done anything, I remember coming home from school and seeing my mum and dad reading it, laughing. They knew I'd made everything up and they thought it was funny. I'll never forget that - I was sooo embarrassed!

What's been your biggest act of defiance against your parents?
(Thinks fir a while) I think that has got to be moving out of home. They weren't very happy about that. They thought I was too young. But now that they can see I wear clean clothes every day and I'm eating OK, it's easier to come to terms with, I suppose.

Do you ever worry that you'll turn out to be exactly like your parents?
Yeah. (Laughs) My mum's a real worrier and she puts her hand over her mouth when she's worried, and lately I've found myself doing just that, and thinking, 'No!', but not in time to stop myself... My dad's really strong, and my mum's really sensitive, so that would definitely make a nice combination, but either one of their own would be a nightmare!

What really really scares you?
(Quietly) I get scared of getting older and never accomplishing what I want to do. Time just ticks past and there are so many things that I still want to do with my life.

What gets your 'goat'?
Ignorant people, no doubt about it. Ignorance in general... People who are small-minded and quick to judge - they are just not worth it.

When was the last time you had a major wobbler?
(Laughs) It can't be that long ago. About a couple of months ago, maybe. I do like a good screamer. I scream at everybody, feel guilty and then cry. Nothing special will set it off. I'll just have had a bad day and I'll go home and there'll be someone there, and they'll say something, and that would be it. It's just something that I need to do to let off some steam, not to intimidate anyone.

When was the last time you cried?
I was watching a video, Lorenzo's Oil, about a really intelligent boy who gradually becomes paralysed, and I was awake all night after that, crying.

What's been your biggest trauma?
Leaving the group. The whole few months of actually building up the courage to saying I wanted to go, and then actually leaving.

What living creature would give you the biggest collywobbles were you to find it crawling around the bottom of your bed?
Snakes. If one came into my bed, I'd die. I hate them! Anything else: fine, but snakes, no way!

How often do you wonder that you're a bit bonkers and need professional help?
All the time! Especially when I left Eternal, everyone was going, 'You're mental!' and I was like 'Am I?'. I have seriously thought maybe I'm not all there, but then I think it's good to be slightly mad - to go through life not taking things too seriously.

Do you like yourself very much ... marks out of 10?
I vary day to day, so I'll say five-six. Some days I'll get up and like myself, and others I won't. I'm not classing what I look like. I mean what sort of person I am. On looks... I don't know.

Pick three words to describe yourself
Sensitive - very sensitive; caring, and a bit mad. I am a bit mental.

What's the one thing about yourself that surprises people when they first meet you?
That I'm much shorter in real life, and I don't look like I do on the telly. It's really awful, because I know I don't look like I do in the photos - it takes three hours to look like that!

Tell us about a vivid dream you've had
When I was younger I had this dream that repeated on me two or three times. It was about a marble, and it was like one of those cartoons. We were trying to get away from some madman; I was with some friends, and I had to throw a marble to hit something that would make the door open, and then we could escape. I did it, but it always seemed really hard.

Word association - say the first things that come into your head
a) Water - Bath
b) Wind - Cold
c) Cliff Richard - Singer
(Laughs) I thought 'old' at first, but that's really rude!

Sexually speaking, how would you describe yourself:
a) A beast
b) Pervert
c) Inactive
d) Other, please specify

Other or pervert. (Laughs) Probably a pervert. How about not quiet a pervert but nearly a pervert? (Does a really dirty laugh)

What would you have as your epitaph?
She had a good life and totally enjoyed it.

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