Charlotte Church admits she's trying to 'find peace' and 'reclaim her creativity' after growing up as a child star
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Charlotte Church has admitted she's trying to find peace' after growing up as a child star, as the singer revealed that opening her wellbeing centre helped her to 'reclaim her creativity'.
The 39-year-old singer turned activist has created a new life for herself in recent years, working as a sound healer on the retreat she owns in rural Wales.
It's a far cry from her Crazy Chick days as a popstar during her noughties heydey when she was at the peak of her fame thanks to her pop career and her wild off-stage antics.
Speaking to violinist and author Izzy Judd on BBC Radio 3 Unwind's The Music & Meditation Podcast on Sunday, Charlotte talked about her journey and how she was 'commoditised as a child'.
She explained: 'In my own personal journey, I found that it has been a journey of me believing in my own creativity.
'I think that when you get commoditised as such a young person, you know, my own creativity and artistry wasn't really centred at all and so it was actually through setting up other things like The Dreaming [Charlotte's own retreat centre] that I really started to reclaim my own creativity.
Charlotte Church has admitted she's trying to find peace' after growing up as a child star, as the singer revealed that opening her wellbeing centre helped her to 'reclaim her creativity'
The 39-year-old singer turned activist has created a new life for herself in recent years, working as a sound healer on the retreat she owns in rural Wales (pictured in 1999)
Charlotte admitted: 'But it wasn't through music, because I had such a lot of baggage around my voice, my creativity, my songwriting, my musicianship, all of that stuff, but yes through creating other things and birthing through other things into the world it made me go 'Ah I'm really good at this. And I really enjoy it!'
'And then that in turn fed back into the music and voice, and then I'm able to have now, so much more freedom of expression which I'm deeply grateful for.'
The activist went on to talk about why trying to find peace has been so important in her life.
She said: 'I think that more and more people are starting to understand that, you know, particularly with the internet and social media and essentially having our attention gained, and our brains sort of gained and commodified, and pumped for dopamine, and addictive pathways essentially.
'So we have got things moving against our seek for peace - if indeed anyone still remembers how that feels!'
Discussing meditation, she added: 'I think that in general, much like many other people nowadays, my mind and my body and my physiology is trained towards business, non-attention, and my mind is busy.
'So I find meditations that are a bit more active, so whether that's whilst dancing, whilst swimming, there had to be another element in there for me.
'And the other thing that I do is that generally through all of those things (maybe not swimming!), I sing.
'You can just let the body start to make sounds and noises and sort of pick up the melodies, whatever is sort of moving through the ether at the time, in whatever landscape that you're in.
She explained: 'In my own personal journey, I found that it has been a journey of me believing in my own creativity' (pictured in front of her wellness retreat)
Breaks start from £450 for three days, but 'to allow access for people of all means, The Dreaming offers a 'pay what you can' space on every three-day retreat'
Charlotte admitted: 'I think that when you get commoditised as such a young person, you know, my own creativity and artistry wasn't really centred at all'
'So, for me it's a way of throwing my mind a bone. So that actually, my mind is just busy enough to give me a bit of peace in that moment.'
Last year, Charlotte made a rare social media appearance on Tuesday to promote a new initiative for The Dreaming.
She spoke on camera about her retreat's 'open invitation to all Activists' and the Pay What You Can ethos for a September retreat.
The former Voice of an Angel singer bought Rhydoldog House with her husband Jonathan Powell, whom she shares a four-year-old daughter with, in 2021 and turned it into a retreat for paying guests to 'reconnect with themselves and the natural world'.
The home, which she has renamed The Dreaming, is just outside the rural market town of Rhayader.
Charlotte finally opened her green retreat last year after overcoming building problems and winning a series of planning battles to transform the property.
The seven-bedroom mansion has three storeys, a helicopter landing and a 200-year-old barn on its 47 acres.
It is a wellness retreat with cycling, archery, foraging, hiking and strength and conditioning lessons available - with a hot tub, plunge pool and outdoor cinema.
One of the eight guest rooms is named 'The Womb' and is described as a 'celebration of womanhood' that is designed to make you feel 'swaddled' and contains a pink shower made of tadelakt (a natural, lime-based plaster indigenous to Marrakech) that Charlotte likens to 'a very large and unusual-shaped vagina'.
The former Voice of an Angel singer bought Rhydoldog House with her husband Jonathan Powell and has transformed into a green retreat where she works as a sound healer (pictured in 2010)
The star made a rare social media appearance last year to promote a new initiative for The Dreaming - an 'open invitation to all Activists'
Charlotte has explained how the retreat sources power from a hydro mill and has a water source heat pump to provide hot water
The retreat also contains a Healing Room where guests can partake in movement, yoga, sound healing, and group work, as well as many gardens, a Potting Shed, Japanese Tea House and a Waterfall Shower.
The minimum stay is for three nights, and the most expensive room on site, The Forest Spirits, goes for £900 per person.
Food and drink is included, though alcohol is strictly banned, with meals being communal and mostly vegetarian and vegan, while guests are encouraged to help plant and harvest vegetables and cook alongside the chefs.
Charlotte has explained how the retreat sources power from a hydro mill and has a water source heat pump to provide hot water.
Speaking last year Charlotte explained she has been an activist for years and wanted to channel her 'values' into her work projects.
She said: 'I really care about the future and the future of the planet, you know, I really think that we can turn things around and so I wanted to be involved in projects and I wanted to start projects, which was living my values really, and living my activism.
'We've got a water source heat pump and we've got the hydro mill, and we're gonna have a huge food growing project.
'So this year we'll have about an acre, an acre and a half of land in which to grow food, and then, In the next two or three years, that's gonna grow to like three or four acres.'
As well as her plans for a food growing project, Charlotte said she will be able to forage in the 80,000 acres of forest surrounding The Dreaming.
Charlotte finally opened her green retreat last year after overcoming building problems and winning a series of planning battles to transform the property
The property's makeover into a green retreat was turned into a documentary series on the Discovery Channel
Charlotte was once known for her partying, pictured here in 2006 at a rugby match
The Voice Of An Angel hitmaker said she has priced the retreat on a 'sliding scale' so it is not too far out of people's price ranges.
She said: 'We've got a sliding scale price range and a pay what you can system. So that on every retreat there's a pay what you can space, because I - you know, everybody's struggling, so I want us to make sure that we're not too bougie.'
Breaks start from £450 for three days, but 'to allow access for people of all means, The Dreaming offers a 'pay what you can' space on every three-day retreat'.
To open the lavish retreat, Charlotte overcame a series of planning battles and building problems.
Environmental and planning bigwigs expressed particular concerns about her plans for treating and disposing of waste from four proposed log cabins, with the ecology department of the local council warning of the deficiencies of many 'private sewage treatment systems'.
In addition the retreat plans were also opposed by her local council - who feared it could cause 'unacceptable risk' to drivers.
The property's makeover into a green retreat was turned into a documentary series on the Discovery Channel.
Charlotte previously revealed she's going to sing at the retreat, saying: 'I'm going to be a practitioner there every week, I'm going to be singing and connecting to the land, it's about voice that's much more than just singing.
2023 aerial plans for Charlotte's wellness retreat revealed her proposal to create a pond
Charlotte rose to fame in childhood as a classical singer before she branched into pop music in 2005, by 2007 the singer sold more than ten million records worldwide (pictured in 2006)
'It's about listening to the land and bringing the outdoors in, being able to go there and to rest and be at one with nature. Within the creative process there is always friction, I was under the impression that what I was doing was quite normal.'
Alongside her life at The Dreaming, Charlotte has also launched her first podcast, Kicking Back with the Cardiffians on BBC Sounds, with new episodes available weekly. On the podcast she discusses her Welsh heritage, family bonds, her working class identity and growing up in Cardiff.
She rose to fame in childhood as a classical singer before she branched into pop music in 2005, by 2007 the singer sold more than ten million records worldwide.
Her musical career kicked off when she was just 11-years-old after she sang Andrew Lloyd Webber's Pie Jesu song on This Morning in 1997.
The singer was previously engaged to rugby ace Gavin Henson, with whom she lived a lavish lifestyle which even led them to be dubbed the Welsh Posh and Becks
Charlotte has two children with her ex, daughter Ruby, 17, and son Dexter, 15.
Gavin and Charlotte split in 2010. She went onto marry Jonathan and together they welcomed their daughter Freya in 2020.
