[2] In school Roberts found herself shying away, in contrast to her home life where she was outgoing, even gaining the nickname 'Cilla' (after singer Cilla Black) from her family.

[3] Roberts acknowledged she had always wanted to be a singer and had been entering competitions and auditions with her father accompanying her and gaining support from other family members also.

[4] In an interview with Closer magazine, Roberts spoke about how she began her musical career at a local disco, as part of a girl band called The 5 Musketeers.

Participants checked into a hotel in Kensington, London, before performing to a panel of celebrity judges; Roberts found that, up to that point, she "didn't really have much life experience".

[7] Having progressed in the competition, Roberts was left as one of 15 remaining participants but found that the reality show was becoming increasingly based on personality instead of vocals.

[8] One notable incident during the competition was when a show-producer expressed to her mother that Roberts would not win, for she was not "outrageous" or as outgoing as others stating that vocals were secondary.

In addition to that, a large stint of publicity left the group exhausted, since McMahon continually pressured them to promote the single "Sound of the Underground".

[14] At this point, the competition with Popstars: The Rivals was still ongoing with the two groups; Girls Aloud and One True Voice competing to outsell each other with their debut single releases.

In the following days, however, news broke that McMahon had died in a car accident, shortly after texting Roberts, who was too busy to respond.

In the Girls Aloud 2008 biography Roberts expressed an interest in writing and recording her own material, wanting to experiment in the studio for better understanding of the process.

[32] A second single, "Lucky Day", was released shortly after and whilst gaining positive reviews[33][34][35] it failed to make an impact commercially peaking at number 40 in the UK.

[44] In late 2012, Roberts admitted during a secret show at Carphones Warehouse on Oxford St, to a small pool of journalists, that she was content with and prepared for the potential commercial fallout of releasing an album that was 'unlike anything out there'.

[46] Nadine Coyle confirmed that Girls Aloud will perform shows around the country at the beginning of 2013 to celebrate their tenth anniversary.

[48] Roberts was at the time a judge and mentor on Sky Living series Styled To Rock alongside fashion designer Henry Holland and Rihanna.

On 31 August 2012, Cheryl confirmed on BBC Radio 1 and Capital FM that the group's new single will be released in November, teasing the lyrics "I just wanna dance".

"[58] Roberts wrote four songs for friend and former colleague Cheryl's fourth studio album, Only Human, entitled "It's About Time", "Throwback", "Goodbye Means Hello" and "Yellow Love".

[18] Her hectic schedule led her to dissolve relations with family members and, after stating her frustration at her living situation, she started frequently returning to her home town of Runcorn, Cheshire.

[69] Her illness[clarify] was diagnosed after extensive touring in which time Roberts complained of weakness and sickness which made it difficult to perform live concerts.

Whilst she performed on Girls Aloud's Tangled Up Tour, Roberts' dog Elvis died just months after he was given as a gift to her.

In May 2017, he admitted to one count of stalking and another to causing annoyance or inconvenience and was given a 15-month suspended sentence and a life-time restraining order not to contact Roberts or members of her family.

[71] In 2007, Roberts started a limited production of a make-up range called Dainty Doll aimed at the pale-skinned market.

[72] At the start of her music career Roberts began to note that other girls were dressing more "glamorous" than she did, and at the age of 16 during her auditions for Popstars: The Rivals, she wished to look like them.

[73] 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.

[75] She met with families of individuals who had died from melanoma,[75] which encouraged Roberts to become an advocate for the banning of underage usage of tanning beds.

[76] 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.

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.

[78] 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.

[78] 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.

[18] "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.

[80] Roberts continued to advocate on the issue of bullying; in an interview given to Rolling Stone, she stated she was "sick" of an image-driven society.