Tiffani Wood plans Bardot as a three piece as Sophie Monk blocks former bandmates on Instagram
As Bardot marks the 20th anniversary of their first single, Tiffani Wood has told of how Sophie Monk appears to want nothing to do with it — or her.
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Sophie Monk has blocked Bardot members on Instagram as the unexplained rift between her former bandmates continues.
Bardot’s Tiffani Wood has noted that Monk’s only interview about the band’s 20th anniversary, a Today show chat last weekend, was “awkward.”
Monk has declined any other interviews about Bardot, who were formed on Popstars.
“Sophie doesn’t like the association with Bardot,” Wood said.
“Anything that’s tagged with Bardot on her page she deletes. A fan pointed that out to me, I’ve been blocked by Sophie on Instagram, so I used another profile and had a look and she’s deleted most references to Bardot, which is where she came from.
“I just don’t think that’s the proper way to do it. Chris Hemsworth still talks about starting on Home And Away. Kylie Minogue honours Neighbours and Charlene, she may not have the same career without that. To me it’s just logical to be grateful about how you got your start. I’d never diss where I came from. I wouldn’t be doing interviews 20 years later because no one would give a shit about me if it wasn’t for Bardot, I’d just be a mum with six kids in the suburbs, but Bardot is joyful to talk about for me.”
This month Bardot’s debut single Poison turned 20. Six months ago the group started planning a reunion, however Monk – through her management – declined to take part.
“We were throwing up ideas of a one-off show, or a new song or a documentary,” Wood said. “But I don’t think we’ll ever get the five girls together for anything. Maybe Sophie thinks she’s doing us a favour or maybe she thinks she’s got too many followers to bother doing it or maybe she just doesn’t care?
“I don’t really know, I can’t speak for her, I haven’t spoken to her for 15 years since we both had singles out on Warner as solo acts, but it was always pleasant when we saw each other then. (Bardot’s) Sally (Polihronas) is a good friend, she just didn’t want to do the reunion, but she wishes us the best.
“For Sophie to still be bitter about it makes me think she may not have enjoyed her time in the band or maybe something happened that I don’t remember? I can’t for the life of me work it out. I live in the same city as her, the Gold Coast. If I bumped into her I’d go up to her and go Hey Soph, holy shit how’s it going?”
Wood says she’s surprised Monk has blocked her on social media — with some fans telling her Monk has deleted any comments about the Bardot reunion they have made on her Instagram.
“Maybe she’s annoyed at getting tagged?,” Wood said. “It’s probably easer to block than take everything down.”
Wood admits she now realises she was “blindsided” about how Bardot ended in 2002, then Monk swiftly launched a brief solo career — before moving into TV work.
“When it all finished none of us had problems with each other, we were all upset it ended, I wasn’t happy it finished. But it wasn’t until few years later that the theory came out that the band was split to launch Sophie as a solo act.
“They call it blindsiding now. If I had to give you an answer of what happened, from putting all the conversations I’ve had since together, it was that they saw her as the solo star, they pre-planned her solo launch — because it was ready way too quick after we finished — and said see you later girls.”
Wood, Katie Underwood and Belinda Chapple have continued to mark the anniversary by posting songs, messages and celebrations on Instagram – Wood says they have discussed the potential of recording a song as a three piece after lockdown.
“If we found an amazing song that represented us now and is Bardot-esque we might consider putting it out. I’m not sure if Sally would be involved, she’s on the fence, but she loves Bardot. It’s hard for me to do anything with six kids, even getting out the door is difficult.
“But the last few weeks have shown there’s fans who want us to do something. I’ve spoken to people I know in the industry about whether it would work with only three members, you never know? Things also might change with the other members.
“A few fans have said if Spice Girls and Take That can get back together, if Victoria Beckham and Robbie Williams can rejoin those bands, why can’t Sophie Monk rejoin Bardot? They’ve got millions of followers and sales and they can put whatever problems they had aside. But they’re also probably making a lot more money from a reunion than Bardot would be.
“If someone threw a lot of money at us, something that can feed my family something other than cheese on toast, I’d jump at it. Sophie’s got plenty of money I’m presuming, so why would she need to do it? That’s where my brain goes to. It would be great, I know the fans would love it.”
Indeed Wood says while she has fond memories of Bardot, being in the group was not financially lucrative.
“We were five girls, everything was split five ways. If we made $50,000 from something it was $10,000 each. Which is a lot, but not when you’re only doing a gig here and there, then the manager and (Popstars TV company) Screentime and (record label) Warner take their cut out of that $10,000 by the end what’s the point?”
Wood now runs singing company PopstarKidz, who offer online singing lessons.
Originally published as Tiffani Wood plans Bardot as a three piece as Sophie Monk blocks former bandmates on Instagram