Geri Halliwell-Horner Is Bringing Girl Power to a New Generation

It's been nearly three decades since Geri Halliwell-Horner exploded into hearts and minds with her flame-red hair and shimmering sequined romper in the Spice Girls music video for "Wannabe." Since then, there was Geri the solo artist, multiple Spice Girls reunions, and more recently, her unofficial role as first lady of F1 on Netflix's runaway hit Formula 1: Drive to Survive. (Her husband is Christian Horner, Team Principal of the Red Bull Formula One team for anyone unfamiliar.) Her CV goes on: Halliwell-Horner penned a series of children's books, Ugenia Lavender, in 2008, and a memoir back in 1999, If Only. Her latest literary project Rosie Frost and the Falcon Queen (out tomorrow), took the Spice Girl we all know and love to a place she'd never been before: full-fledged, novel-length writing that blends her passions with her signature cheeky attitude.

"Writing is the one thing where you get to control and decide. So, I love it for that reason," Halliwell-Horner says. But this isn’t another celebrity vanity project. Halliwell-Horner name-checks C.S. Lewis as inspiration and reminds me that she studied both English literature and theater pre-Spice Girls. And she created this book with a very specific message in mind. It blends Tudor history with myth and fantasy, all the while, introducing young readers to a different kind of hero. Think of it as Girl Power 2.0. "I'd already done younger children's books before and I thought, You know what? Wouldn't it be nice if the world had a new hero, someone that you can all identify with that was really fresh and ordinary and not perfect?"

Of course, Spice Girls fans are going to be scanning the pages for references to Ginger, et al. It doesn't take much to recognize the similarities between Frost and the author. "I mean, obviously the hair color," says Halliwell-Horner, laughing as she describes any not-so-accidental shared character traits. "But what I like about Rosie is I think she's us. She's the raw, vulnerable us that doesn't know the way and then has to find the courage that she never knew she had. And we all feel like this at different times."

As for other would-be spicy cameos? Halliwell says she couldn't not do it. "You can't help it," she says of her famous friends influencing the book's motley crew of characters. "Do you know what a magpie is? They are always, like, soaking up. You take ingredients of different things. Somebody asked me this and said, 'Oh, is there any Spice Girl in there?' And I was like, 'Actually, there's a bit of Scary and Posh in, actually.'"

Halliwell-Horner drew upon an unexpected spirit, as well. Though she was born in Watford, England, and had what seems like a quintessentially British upbringing, all-girls school and everything, she says that the essence of Frost is — wait for it — American. 

"America gave me that feeling that anything is possible," Halliwell-Horner shares. "When my mother was at work, she was earning a living. I was at home, getting educated on the power of 'You can do it,' whether it was [by] the A-Team, whether it was Charlie's Angels, whether it was Sylvester Stallone in Rocky, and The Waltons."

Still, Anne Boleyn is a major character, and Halliwell-Horner wants justice for the misunderstood monarch. "What about if we humanize this woman? She was 30-something years old and she had a young daughter and she was executed and she had to leave this child." And the setting, Bloodstone Island, while it isn't real, has a landscape undeniably British, right down to its boarding schools and lush, animal-filled forests. 

Halliwell-Horner goes on to explain that, yes, the book will technically be found in the young adult section, but she set out to create a novel anyone and everyone could get lost in, all while finding themselves. "This is my first time writing an in-depth novel and it was the hardest thing I've ever done. I wanted to create a story that was full of adventure and heart for the reluctant reader and for any age," she explains. "If [an adult picks] it up, [they’ll] get something out of it. If someone younger does, great. It's for everyone. And there's depth to it, but also there's a fast pace to it. I think those are the best kinds of stories." (She plans on this being a trilogy, for all the fans who can’t get enough.)

Her own teenage daughter hasn’t read it yet, but did already influence it. "All your kids, they're just the worst critics. They're like eye-roll. It doesn't matter whether you win a Golden Globe, they're going to eye-roll. Do you know what I mean?" Halliwell-Horner says. "One joke in there about Guatemala and guacamole, that's [my daughter’s] joke. That's Bluebell's joke. But she says, 'Mother, I'll read it when it's published.'"

Although writing is her focus at the moment, fans who’ve been longing for new music from Halliwell-Horner have even more reason to pick up the book. Copies of Rosie Frost include a special QR code that brings readers to two new tracks, the electro-pop “Ghost in the House” and the piano-forward ballad “Beautiful Life."

"I bought this book for my son, he's [6 years old], and there was a song in the back and I thought, That's such a good idea," Halliwell-Horner says of her inspiration. "I thought, Well, why don't you just put some music on your book? So, there's music on the book. I think you'll really like it. It was a really nice sort of a sentimental song."

And what about more from her alter-ego? Back in the summer of 2022, fellow Spice Girl Melanie C. (Sporty, but you knew that) shared that the team behind Netflix's Emmy-winning Michael Jordan series, The Last Dance, was in the beginning stages of a Spice Girls documentary. Halliwell-Horner is quick to say that with two more books on the horizon, she didn't have any updates on the doc just yet.

"When something happens, I'm completely immersed in it. So, when I'm in it, I'm in it. It deserves absolute 100 percent attention. At the moment, I'm like, 'This [book] is a baby. This is like a young adult that needs to go off to university.' I am ushering Rosie out the door into the world," she says of balancing writing with her duties as Ginger. "If and when something happens [with the documentary], I'm 100 percent. I can't wait. But at the moment, [the book] is it."

As for her participation in Drive to Survive, Halliwell-Horner is tight-lipped on her rare, but always-welcome, appearances. "I come in as maybe the matriarch going, 'Come on!'" she says of her place among the screeching tires and high-velocity action. "How am I going to say this ... big boys and their toys? That's a bit of perspective."

She does, however, open up about her not-so-subtle transformation fashion-wise. She's eschewed her patriotic minidresses and crystal bustiers of yore for a more low-key look now, both on and off the racetrack. Her all-white outfits create an undeniably angelic presence amongst the chaos of races and the larger-than-life egos that accompany some of the drivers on the show.

"I remember when I went from Spice Girls to solo and I was really stuck. I think it was George Michael, he sort of took me and bought my first Armani jacket," she explains. "My go-to was always Audrey [Hepburn], but I was always in black. It just felt safe. And I thought, I want freedom. I want to feel energized by what I put on. And then I thought, Oh, can I sort of emulate something that's just fresh and easy, that's just simple, elegant in simplicity."

That's what brought out the all-white everything, from collared shirts to flowing coats.

"I really have enjoyed wearing white. I looked through the ages. I've worn white a lot. The more I wore it, I thought, 'Oh actually, this is so easy. Everything matches.' So, it's sort of as a palette, a baseline palette. I've done it for a few years and then everyone keeps on commenting. It's really interesting how everyone comments on it. When I wore black all the time, no one said a word."

As for her more colorful fashion past, Halliwell-Horner knows that Ginger Spice is a Halloween favorite — and she can't get enough. "I'm absolutely flattered," she says of seeing recreations of her iconic performance wardrobe. "I love it when people send it to me. I'm like, 'Fantastic. Brilliant.' It's nice. Very flattering."