The 32-year-old was launched into the spotlight in 1998, when her first single Because We Want To catapulted her to stardom.
But rather than revel in her overnight success, Billie said the sudden fame left her feeling ‘like a recluse.’
‘When you’re a pop star you’re always on duty. You’re suddenly a role model even though you don’t start out with ambitions of being a role model and also you’re a fallible mess yourself,’ the star told Fault magazine.
She explained that, along with then boyfriend Ritchie Neville (of Five fame), they would hole themselves up for days on end, to avoid the incessant pictures and autographs.
‘Trying to keep some resemblance of togetherness and good behaviour was just shit as a teenager.’
‘Mostly that you couldn’t walk anywhere without people wanting pictures and autographs and I found that so suffocating.’
After splitting from Ritchie, Billie shocked fans when she married then 34-year-old DJ Chris Evans when she was just 18.
By 25, she had divorced Chris and later the same year married Lewis actor Laurence Fox.
The couple have two sons - Winston, six, and Eugene, three.