Sarah Harding joked that she wanted ‘for f***’s sake’ engraved on her headstone when she died.
The 39-year-old died on Sunday, a year after being diagnosed with advanced breast cancer.
Just months before her death, the Girls Aloud icon discussed her illness in her autobiography Hear Me Out, and said that she had thought about her own funeral.
In classic Harding humour, she poked fun at her ‘most used phrase’ throughout her cancer battle, and reckoned it would work as an epitaph.
The Promise singer wrote: ‘I keep thinking about funerals at the moment. It might sound morbid, but it’s hard not to at this stage — cemeteries, plots, burials, what kind of send-off I’d like and how it would all go.
‘I’ve also thought about an epitaph for my grave. I’m thinking “FFS” might be a good one.
‘It’s probably been my most used phrase throughout this, with one crappy event following another. “For f***’s sake!”’
Harding confirmed in a social media post last August that she had discovered she had breast cancer earlier that year, and had since learned that it had advanced to other parts of her body.
The popstar had a mastectomy and chemotherapy, but the cancer had advanced to her brain and lungs, and Harding was told that she would probably not see another Christmas.
Sadly, Harding’s mother confirmed that the singer died over the weekend.
Her mother Marie wrote on Instagram: ‘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. 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.’
Celebrities were among the thousands sharing their condolences and tributes to Harding, with her Girls Aloud bandmates sharing their heartbreak on social media.
Nadine Coyle said she was ‘absolutely devastated’, while Kimberley Walsh 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.’
Nicola Roberts called her bandmate an ‘electric girl’, and wrote: ‘A part of me or us isn’t here anymore and it’s unthinkable and painful and utterly cruel.’
Harding shot to fame in 2002 when she was chosen as one of the members of Girls Aloud on Popstars: The Rivals, with the band clinching the Christmas number one with their debut single Sound of the Underground.
Girls Aloud went on to become the UK’s biggest selling girlband of the 21st century, achieving four number one singles and a Brit Award for best single for The Promise.
After the group’s disbandment, Harding released her own solo EP, acted in Coronation Street and won Celebrity Big Brother.
MORE : Girls Aloud star Kimberley Walsh pays tribute to Sarah Harding: ‘My heart is broken’
