'I wanted to curl up in a ball and shut the world out'

Singer Sinitta on the pain of miscarriage, the joys of motherhood and her return to musical theatre

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Pop star Sinitta, currently playing the formidable Mama Morton in Chicago The Musical, shot to fame as part of Stock Aitken Waterman's hit factory in the 80s.

Becoming a household name with hits So Macho, Toy Boy and GTO — she was Simon Cowell’s first recording star. In 2002, she married Andy Willner, later suffering multiple miscarriages followed by three failed attempts of IVF. In 2007, she adopted her two children, Zac and Magdalena, now 18. Here, Sinitta, 61, opens up about how the love of her children helped her through dark days, comforting Simon the day they heard the devastating news of the death of Liam Payne, and her new mystery man...

Hi, Sinitta. You’ve got an exciting new role in Chicago. Now that your kids are teens, were you keen to return to your first love of musical theatre?

Absolutely. I’ve turned down a lot of theatre jobs over the past few years. It just didn’t feel fair to adopt two children then be at the theatre every night. I would have missed out on bedtimes and bath times and their day-to-day life. I had such a difficult road to motherhood in the first place that I was determined to be there for them every morning.

Now they're 18, they hardly have time for me. They are off doing their own thing, I guess just like I did when I was their age. So, I felt like I needed to get back to the work I adore — musical theatre. The very place I first started my career.

Do you remember the day you brought Zac and Magdalena home for the very first time?

It was extraordinary. I spent months filling out forms, going to interviews. Then suddenly, because they were very young, we were immediately given a date to pick them up.