Sugababes star Mutya Buena's health condition she 'had no idea' about and heartbreak after unexpected family death

Sugababes star Mutya Buena shot to fame in the girl group at the tender age of 13. Born Rosa Isabel Mutya Buena, the star will be performing alongside bandmates Keisha Buchanan and Siobhan Donaghy on Strictly Come Dancing's results show tonight (Sunday, November 24).

Mutya, 39, was part of the original line up of Sugababes. Siobhan left and was replaced by Heidi Range in 2001 and in 2005 Mutya quit the band to "spend more time with her daughter".

The original members reunited in 2019 and have been performing ever since. But what do we know about her life away from her career?

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Below we look at the heartbreaking loss of her sister and the health condition she struggled with.

Mutya Buena's heartbreak after unexpected family death

In 2002, her family was dealt a terrible blow. Mutya's younger sister Maya tragically died unexpectedly.

Mutya has never publicly spoken about the loss, but her devastation was made clear when she dedicated the song Maya to her on the Sugababes album Three.

The lyrics read: "Maya this song's for you. I have your name print tattooed upon my skin. There's so much to say to you. And where do I begin?

"'cause all these prayers must be going somewhere. Somewhere I can never trace. But it seems so far look in the stars. And the empty space.

"There are worlds within worlds, that keep rotating. And so many thoughts that flow through my mind. If this universe is really shrinking. We'll be together in time."

Mutya also paid tribute to her sister, giving her daughter the middle name Maya.

Mutya Buena's health condition

Mutya previously opened up about her tough struggle with depression on podcast Killing It. She revealed she didn't even know she was suffering from postnatal depression after the birth of her daughter Tahlia.

Mutya said: "I didn’t know I had postnatal depression, I would turn up to the studio and I would be acting so weird. Everything annoyed me, I could go from zero to 100 in seconds. I used to think what is going on? But it was my anxiety, I didn’t realise I suffered with it for so long, I didn’t even know what it was. I was getting nervous and angry, emotionally, I was all over the place."

Opening up on the podcast When I was 25, she added: "I just didn’t feel good. On top of that having baby blues with the girls, it didn’t make me feel good. I felt like I had this baby belly. I felt crazy fat.

“I remember feeling really, really low. I didn’t’ feel sexy, I didn’t feel like my normal self.

The singer spoke candidly about trying to juggle motherhood and being in a successful pop group while trying to hide her depression, which she said felt too taboo to talk about at the time. “I didn’t realise for two years. For two years I had no idea I was even suffering with depression.

“Suffering with depression was the hardest because you have to then own up to what you’re going through. For ages, it felt embarrassing. You don’t tell people you have depression because then they look at you different. Talking about it makes you look crazy.”

She said that she would often sit in the dark with her curtains closed all day long, before deciding that she “needed to do better for [her] daughter and for [herself]”.