Clare Grogan: ‘Every woman I know has been hit with a #MeToo moment’

Clare Grogan says every woman she knows has been hit with a #MeToo moment.
The singer and ‘Gregory’s Girl’ actress, 60, was said by an interview to have got teary-eyed when asked if she had ever experienced the kind of sexism the movement exposed.
She told the Daily Telegraph on Thursday (18.08.22) about her take on #MeToo: “It’s quite complex, and it’s really personal. Every woman I know has had some kind of experience of sexual harassment or worse.
“It’s so disappointing. I think it’s really important that people do vocalise this stuff, but in your own terms, and in your own time.
“I’m not saying anything other than I can’t imagine any woman has survived life in general without really difficult situations creeping in.”
Clare was dropped by her record company after her first solo single ‘Love Bomb’ failed to chart.
The ‘Altered States’ frontwoman said: “At 24, I was a has-been in some people's eyes.”
She went on working as an actress, racking up notable roles in Red Dwarf, EastEnders – as Ian Beale’s love interest, Ros, from 1997-’98 – and in Channel 4’s controversial teen drama ‘Skins’.
Clare added: “My starting point was so successful, there was maybe only one way to go. And that’s not up! But if you’ve ever been in a band, you’ll never get over the absolute shocking need to perform.”
She added about a lack of women in showbusiness: “There’s still not enough of us. I think things might have been different for ‘Altered Images’ if there had been more women around.
“I remember the excitement I would feel seeing a woman on ‘Top of the Pops’, whether it was Suzi Quatro or Karen Carpenter.
“I always thought - and I still do – that most women are more entertaining than men.
“The first person I really identified with was Poly Styrene (the late frontwoman for the punk band ‘X-Ray Spex’.) Oh my God! She was a riot.
“Unconventional girls like Siouxsie Sioux and Debbie Harry made me believe I could do this.”
Clare married her former bandmate, drummer and producer Stephen Lironi in 1994, and they live in north London with their 17-year-old adopted daughter, Ellie.
They own three restaurants but during the pandemic, with their restaurants closed, the couple wrote new songs together, with Ellie singing some backing vocals.
Clare said: “The thing I really missed was singing. It made me think, I’m not finished yet.”