Huge ITV reality TV star ditches fame for very normal career – and admits she's ‘failed more times than I'd have liked'

The Sun

03-05-2025

A HUGE reality reality star has ditched fame for a very normal career.
Admitting that she has failed more times than she would have liked, Popstars starlet Suzanne Shaw has gotten candid in a new video shared on Instagram.
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Suzanne, 43, shot to fame on the hit ITV reality talent show in 2000 when she was thrust into new band Hear'Say.
At just 18 years of age, Suzanne became a huge star and went on to have a glowing career.
Appearing in musicals on the stage, and on several TV shows, Suzanne even starred and competed in Dancing On Ice in 2008.
But Suzanne ended up making a massive career U-turn and ditching fame for a pretty normal career.
After her foray with fame, the Bury-born beauty now works as a motivational speaker.
In a recent video shared onto her Instagram account, suzanneshawofficial, which has over 7,000 followers, Suzanne got candid about failure.
"I have failed so many times in my life. In business, in parenthood, in relationships," she said in the video.
She went on: "Sometimes I even look back at those failures and I feel really embarrassed.
"But what I do not allow it to do, is hold me back from my next set of aspirations."
In the caption, Suzanne wrote: "It's time to normalise failure and to also flip the script! Everyone fails at some point in their life!!! And those who succeed most fail MORE!"
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She later added: "I've failed more times than I'd have liked - in many areas of my life.
"When I look back on those time I sometimes feel embarrassed or ashamed but then I quickly remind myself. Who cares!!!
"At least I gave it a go or prepared to fully embrace this crazy life!"
Suzanne went on: "Every time I have a whopper of a failure I always think - well this will make for a great anecdote for a speaking gig or a character in my book!"
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Last year, Suzanne opened up about her motivational speaking career.
Speaking to New! Magazine, she said: "I help people get through sobriety and help them on their wellness journey, so that's what I do now as a job."
She also told the magazine that it had been four years since she last drank alcohol.
"It wasn't healthy, and it wasn't something that was going to benefit my life.
"I didn't have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, it just wasn't for me," she said at the time.
Suzanne is a mother to two children.
The former pop star turned motivational speaker welcomed her first child, Corey MacKenzie Shaw-Day in December 2004 with Darren Day.
Her second child was born in 2015 with fiancé Sam Greenfield.
In December 2015, the couple welcomed a boy named Rafferty.