Kimberley Walsh has paid tribute to her former Girls Aloud bandmate Sarah Harding following her tragic death on Sunday.
The pop star sadly passed away following a battle with breast cancer that had spread to her spine.
Sarah’s heartbreaking death was confirmed on her official Instagram page by her beloved mum, Marie Hardman, who described Sarah as her “beautiful daughter”.
The late singer had fought her cancer until the end, passing away one year after first sharing her devastating news with her doting fans.
Sarah’s fellow Girls Aloud star Kimberley logged into her Instagram page on Monday morning to pay a touching tribute to her pal with a series of heartfelt snaps.
She wrote: “Beautiful Sarah this hurts so bad. To wake up and know that you are really gone is too much to bear. Hearing your infectious chuckle was one of my favourite things in the world.
“Your fire burned so bright and you loved, lived and laughed so hard. Sending love and strength to everyone who is grieving today. My heart is broken.”
(Image: kimberleywalshofficial/Instagram)
Kimberley attached three snaps of herself with Sarah to her touching social media tribute.
In the first snap, Sarah could be seen smiling while wrapping her arms around a beaming Kimberley.
The pair were dressed to impress and clearly enjoying spending time in each others company.
Kimberley also shared a throwback snap of her and Sarah with towels wrapped around their heads as they prepared for a glam night out together.
(Image: PA)
The third photograph showed Kimberley and Sarah both wearing green, with Sarah make a funny face for the camera while having her photograph taken.
Sarah and Kimberley found fame in 2002 after securing a spot in the girl band while appearing ITV’s Popstars: The Rivals, before going on to become the biggest girl group in British history.
Alongside Nadine Coyle, Cheryl and Nicola Roberts, they landed 21 top ten singles, four UK number one singles and sell-out tours across the nation.
(Image: Getty Images)
Fellow Girls Aloud members Nicola and Nadine have both also penned heartfelt tributes to the star.
Nadine said: ”I am absolutely devastated!! I can’t think of words that could possibly express how I feel about this girl & what she means to me!!
“I know so many of you will be feeling this way. For now, I’m sending so much love to you!!!”
Nicola shared: “I’m absolutely devastated and I can’t accept that this day has come. My heart is aching and all day everything we went through together has raced around my mind.
(Image: Getty Images)
“Especially this last year since her diagnosis, as hard as the year has been, our new memories are strong in my heart.
“There are so many things to say and at first, it felt too personal to put them here and then I remembered that there are so many other people grieving her too.”
She continued: “A part of me or us isn’t here anymore and it’s unthinkable and painful and utterly cruel.
“She would have loved your messages today, electric girl, you made us. You gave it everything and still with a smile.
“A white butterfly flew past my window this morning before I knew, it must have been you.”
(Image: Getty Images)
Announcing the news of Sarah’s passing, Marie penned: “It’s with deep heartbreak that today I’m sharing the news that my beautiful daughter Sarah has sadly passed away. Many of you will know of Sarah’s battle with cancer and that she fought so strongly from her diagnosis until her last day.
“She slipped away peacefully this morning. I’d like to thank everyone for their kind support over the past year.”
She went on to say: “It meant the world to Sarah and it gave her great strength and comfort to know she was loved.
“I know she won’t want to be remembered for her fight against this terrible disease – she was a bright shining star and I hope that’s how she can be remembered instead.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
