Inside Ashley Roberts’ Terrifying Pussycat Dolls Health Scare
Nothing says “living the rock star life” like mistaking a migraine for a brain aneurysm while hauling your sequins across Europe. That was the mid-aughts reality for Pussycat Dolls alum Ashley Roberts, who recently revealed to The Times (July 8) that she wound up hospitalized amid relentless touring. Picture it: Roberts, Nicole Scherzinger and three other women in full choreography mode—sweating under stage lights—only for Ashley to slump with excruciating headaches, nausea, and what felt like a full-blown aneurysm.
Doctors ordered an MRI after initial tests, only to rule out cerebral drama and diagnose viral arthritis in her knee and total exhaustion. Roberts, armed with pure ‘go-go-go’ adrenaline, quipped between IV drips, “I need to get on a flight to Germany. I’ve got a show to do. You gotta give me something.” It’s the same mindset that has fueled every action movie villain’s evil laugh—minus the facial hair.
Post-Pussycat Dolls breakup in 2010, the toll caught up with Roberts in melodramatic fashion: full-body eczema, shingles across her face, and a gnarly stomach ulcer. An acupuncturist delivered the hard truth: “If you don’t scream, your body’s gonna scream for you.” Translation: the group’s “grind, grind, grind” ethos came with literal pain points. Add in the ever-hovering fear of being “replaced”—yes, pop groups run on paranoia—and you have a recipe for chronic stress.
Nearly two decades after the Dolls disbanded, Roberts decided to rejoin for a 2020 reunion tour—because nothing says healing like reliving your worst burnout. The tour was nixed by COVID plus a legal tangle between Scherzinger and founder Robin Antin, which finally settled in 2024. “I’m a woman now,” Roberts told The Times, adding that she’d learned to actually enjoy her body instead of treating it like a high-performance rental car. Talk about character development.
She’s not the only former Doll to air the dirty laundry: Nicole Scherzinger confessed to The Times in June 2024 that zero sleep, zero self-care, and nonstop competition created “a recipe for disaster.” Yet both women admit they wouldn’t change a beat. Because pop history isn’t pop history without a few broken bones—physical, mental, or both.
There you have it: viral arthritis, shingles, courtroom drama, and a reunion that never was. Stay tuned for the next episode of pop glam meets existential crisis—and don’t forget to stretch before your next “grind, grind, grind.”
Sources: Celebrity Storm and E! Online, The Times
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed
