Flashback – Anastacia: ‘Men would say I looked like a sexy librarian, which was gross’

The singer-songwriter recreates an old photo and talks about tinted glasses, cancer surgery and dealing with lecherous men

Born in Chicago in 1968 and raised in New York, Anastacia Lyn Newkirk is the multiplatinum star known for her mezzo-soprano voice. Anastacia became one of the best-selling female singers of the early noughties with her debut album Not That Kind – featuring the career-defining I’m Outta Love. She went on to release six more albums and had No 1 hits in more than 20 countries. She was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time in 2013, 10 years after the first, and has the heart condition supraventricular tachycardia. Her 20th anniversary tour, I’m Outta Lockdown, arrives in the UK in autumn 2022.

This was taken in 2000, and I’m almost positive I was in France, promoting something. Looking at it now, I see a little cherub face and a girl who did her own hair and bought her own clothes. In my head I looked really fancy in my shrug, princess fur and T-shirt. And those white pants! I thought white was the colour of fancy people.