Melanie C loves being able to show people the ''real her''.

The Spice Girls star is usually a ''very private person'' but says that lockdown has ''loosened'' her up a bit and allowed her to show another side of herself.

Speaking to The Sunday Times' Culture magazine, she said: ''Letting people see my home felt weird at first. I'm a very private person, but lockdown loosened me up. That shared experience of everyone in isolation made any sense of pretence seem ridiculous. I've spoken a lot in the past about my battles with depression and it really helped me hearing from fans trying to make sense of the same situation. Their stories compelled me to reach out. To my great surprise I loved being so open and allowing people to see the real me.''

Meanwhile, the 46-year-old pop star previously insisted that her public image still doesn't chime with her real-life self as she's been seen as a symbol of ''ladette culture'' since the 90s, but in reality, she's ''quite quiet'' and ''gentle''.

She shared: ''I had this tomboy image and I loved my football, people thought I was a bit mouthy, a bit loud, part of that ladette culture.

''And, you know, I'm really quite quiet, and I'm really gentle. That was hard for me for a few years. I found it really confusing.''

Melanie underwent therapy for clinical depression in the early 2000s.

And the chart-topping singer also admits that the arrival of her 11-year-old daughter Scarlet proved to be a turning point in her life.

She said: ''Being a mum was so liberating because for the first time in my adult life, it wasn't all about me. It made me not only realise I had a huge responsibility to her but I have a huge responsibility to myself.''