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Singing success ... but Jo was tormented at school for having a good voice.
By Nicole Lampert.

S Club 7's Jo O'Meara took an overdose after school bullies made her life hell for four years , she revealed last night.In a desperate cry for help the blonde beauty swallowed a handful of painkillers and her tormentors even helped stuff them into her mouth.

Jo was rushed to hospital and had her stomach pumped to save her life. She was only 14 at the time and the suicide bid was the only way she could see out of her bullying nightmare. Now she has spoken exclusively to The Sun about her painful past to help kids today who are the victims of bullies.Jo , 21 , said: "I just want to let kids know that suicide is not the way out. That just makes you look weak and it makes the bullies look strong." The star says that even now she still bears the scars of being beaten up and mentally tortured as a child. Her bullying ordeal began when she joined Bower Park School in Romford , Essex , when she was ten. Four girls began picking on her daily , making every moment of her waking hours a nightmare.

Jo said: "It was awful , really bad. It was mental and physical abuse every day. The bullying was all the time I never got a break from it. They hit me , they threw me down the stairs , they called me names. I always thought they were waiting for me.I dreaded going to the next class because I knew that walking from one class to another I would get something along the way.They would say , 'you think you're so pretty , you think you're so popular , you think you have a good voice'.They would make me stand on tables and sing. It was just general bitchiness and being nasty. Anything to make me feel bad. The fear was constant from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed.I used to have a lot of nightmares. It was the thought of getting up and going through it all again the next day. It was playing on my mind all the time."After four years of hell , Jo was desperate to escape the bullying. So one day at school she crammed dozens of headache pills into her mouth and waited for a final release from her torture.

Her voice shaking , Jo recalled the lowest point of her life. She said: "I got really depressed and I thought there was no way out.I was really down and I knew I had to do something about it.I took the pills at school in front of the bullies. I wanted to show them what they were making me do to myself to let them see how wrong they were. But they just tried to put the pills down my throat themselves they tried to help me. I had to go to hospital and get my stomach pumped.In a way it was my cry for help because I couldn't see any way out."

Jo was so terrified of the bullies that she had been unable to tell her parents what she was suffering.She said: "If a bully tells you not to say anything you don't. I know people say you should stand up for yourself. But you can't stand up for yourself because if you are a victim of it and they say don't say anything you don't.I also didn't tell anyone because I felt so embarrassed about it.I don't know why , but you feel stupid. It is a very degrading thing to go through it is not something you want to admit.Everybody at school ignored it. The girls that were doing it were big girls and everyone was scared of them. The teachers might have seen what was going on but they were not any help.I was completely on my own."

Jo says she realises now that her suicide bid was a big mistake."I am not proud of what I did but sometimes things get so bad you don't know what to do ," she said. "At that age you don't realise that you have a whole life ahead of you , you just live for that moment. And if things aren't going right for you at that moment you think there is no way out.Committing suicide may seem the easiest way out. But now when I look back I think I was stupid. If the pills had worked I wouldn't be here now." Jo , who plans to marry her mechanic fiancee Lee next year , says she still does not know why she was bullied. But she believes her tormentors may have been jealous of her singing talents.

She said: "It's hard for anyone who gets picked on because you're never quite right you're too fat , too thin , you wear glasses , you don't wear glasses , you've got spots , you haven't...
You either fit in or you don't. If you don't , you can get hell. I didn't fit because I was really involved with my music. If you go to a normal school , that's not a cool thing to do. It's the only reason I can think of.I've never discussed my ordeal openly before but I hope this shows bullies how cruel they can be."

When Jo recovered from her overdose the story of her ordeal emerged. Her parents then moved her to the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in the City of London where she finally escaped the bullies. She said: "When I knew I wasn't going back it was such a relief. I took a few months off to get myself together.I found I wasn't very good at meeting new people sometimes I'm still not good at meeting people.But when I was on stage that was my place and no one could get me."Jo has not seen the girls who ruined her childhood since she quit their school.

She said: "I'd love to tell them , 'I hope you're happy with your little lives but I'm sure I'm much happier' and stick two fingers up to them. If it made them think about what they did to me that would be something."

Jo certainly has a lot to be happy about today. S Club 7 are Britain's biggest selling singles artists of the past 12 months and their TV series is shown in 106 countries. The band , who will donate proceeds from new single Never Had A Dream Come True to BBC charity Children In Need , are adored by millions of kids and have riches beyond their wildest dreams.

Jo hopes her success will give a positive message to other victims of bullies.She said: "I am so proud of myself and I am so happy that those pills didn't work.I am engaged to a lovely guy and he is someone I am really happy with and I have a great career.Taking your life is not the way out , and I'm living proof that your life change for the better."

"My message to people who are getting bullied is to ask for help NOW.The sooner you get support from adults who care , the sooner it will stop.If you fight the bullies , it makes you stronger."