Kelly Rowland was for a long time best known as "one of the other ones" in Destiny's Child. Now, she's coming into her own, with a solo career and a TV breakthrough as an X Factor judge.
In the November edition of Cosmopolitan Magazine, she opens up on her family struggles, her split from ex-fiancé, American Football player Roy Williams, cosmetic surgery and her affection for British men. Below are some titbits:
On British men:
“Oh, have you seen how cute they wear their pants [trousers]? All neat and tight. British men are so charming! I love the accent and how they open doors for you - well at least the ones I’ve met so far do!”
On liking X Factor judge Gary Barlow’s butt:
“With all due respect to his wife, her husband has the nicest little hiney I have ever seen. Every time he gets up to get a drink of water I’m like, ‘Oops!’ [Does comedy butt-perv mime.] But it’s his smile too. He’s very genuine. I love a person who is straight to the point.”
On fellow X Factor judge Tulisa and those rivalry rumours:
“Me and Tulisa know what it’s like to be compared to other women. We have a perfect understanding and we talk for hours about what’s bothering us. She’s a sweetheart. As women it’s our job to shut down bitchiness and rivalry. People want women to hate each other and I’m sorry, I’m not that girl. It was the same with Destiny’s Child - we love each other.”
On growing up without the support of her family:
“Me and my mum didn’t see eye to eye for a while. I would see how close my girlfriends were to their mothers and it bothered me. I haven’t seen my dad for almost 20 years. It’s nothing I want a pity party for. He left me and my mum, and I was angry. I wanted to be a daddy’s girl so bad. God damn The Cosby Show because that made me think, ‘Why aren’t my family like that?’ But this is not a perfect world.”
On reuniting with her estranged father:
"He reached out to me saying he wanted to see me, but it’s unfortunate he did it so publicly [he did an interview with a tabloid newspaper in June this year]. I want to meet him, and soon, I really do. I forgave him a long time ago.”
On breaking off her engagement to American footballer Roy Williams:
“I was too young for marriage. I remember my sister B [Beyoncé] asked me one question: she said, ‘Well, you know what you want now, don’t you?’ and I was like ‘Yes’. It was so hard and embarrassing because everyone knew. I’d posed for the front cover of a magazine in my wedding dress and it was on sale! But sometimes you fall down and you learn from it.”
On being a single lady:
“Before, I’d want to lean on somebody. Now I love the fact that I can just be a single lady, chilling and hanging with my friends, and travelling the world. It’s a pretty good life. I’m ready for marriage when the right time comes now, though.”
On her boob job:
"I said in an interview a long time ago that I’d get it done because I just had little nuggets for boobs and it was bothering me. The decision was 10 years in the making so I’m comfortable talking about it. It’s something I really wanted to do for myself - not for a man, not for work, for myself...and I love them!”
The full interview appears in the November issue of Cosmopolitan, on sale Monday 10th October.