Milli Vanilli's Fab Morvan feared ‘life was unsafe’ after living a lie (exclusive)
Watch our interview with Milli Vanilli's Fab Morvan
Milli Vanilli’s Fab Morvan revealed he was fearful that "life after Milli Vanilli would be unsafe" because the music duo had been living a lie.
New documentary Milli Vanilli lifts the lid on the story behind the sensational headlines that erupted when producer Frank Farian exposed the lip syncing lie to the world in 1990 after Morvan and Rob Pilatus made increasing demands that they wanted to sing on the next album.
Fears after Milli Vanilli scandal
In an exclusive interview, Morvan said: "We pushed Frank and pushed him and pushed him. In the end, he went to New York to Reuters and said they didn’t sing on the record because we pushed him. I can tell you it took balls for us to push him because we knew that life after Milli Vanilli would be unsafe. Uncertain.
"We were happy when it was done. Then the reality set in, 'Oh my God they’re gonna look at us very differently'. From fame to shame. How are we gonna earn money? How are we gonna survive?"
Milli Vanilli become a worldwide sensation after their hit Girl You Know It's True but when the lip syncing came to light everything came crashing down.
Sadly his bandmate Pilatus died aged 32 after struggling with addiction when the world turned its back on Milli Vanilli in the wake of the scandal.
Consumed by the fears of the negative stigma around Milli Vanilli, Morvan kept his scandalous past a secret from his love Tessa Van Der Steen when they first met.
Fast forward 14 years later, the couple are very happy and have four children together. Before rebuilding his life, Morvan was tormented by the fear following the public fallout with Milli Vanilli.
"With the help of music, I was able to go up that mountain and reinvent myself," he said.
"I was always afraid of the negative impact of Milli Vanilli, the stigma behind Milli Vanilli. I knew that my improvements would bring new people into my life.
"I worked on myself as a human being. Tessa, my partner, saw someone and she loved whatever she saw. I told her, 'Hey, my life is not good, I went through hell' but I didn’t tell her at the beginning."
Milli Vanilli and Grammy Awards
Milli Vanilli’s rise to fame had been like a dream come true for the pair who had set their hearts on carving a career in the spotlight as singers.
Before the secret was out, Milli Vanilli won the Best New Artist award at the 32nd Grammy Awards. Once the scandal blew up, the Grammy Award was later revoked and their world became a living nightmare.
Morvan said: "Music was what we loved. And yes, we fell into it. We thought it was gonna be beautiful.
"It was a dream at first, we did one song and thought it was gonna be the one song only. We signed a contract that was done without an attorney or managers.
"Then suddenly this dream turns into a nightmare because this secret that you’re carrying on your shoulder becomes heavier. Then you medicate yourself to deal with the fact that it is a lie that you’ve embraced, that you can’t get out of. How do you get out?"
Did they ever think about the real singers behind the tracks that made the famous? "Always, always thought about them," he said.
"For me, I always wondered who they were but Frank made sure that everybody was separated because we could come together and maybe even do a record together to flip the script."
Later he would perform with one of the voices of Milli Vanilli, John Davis.
Milli Vanilli's heartbreak
When the news broke, the lip syncing duo were heartbroken at the backlash from fans and Morvan said he couldn’t watch TV anymore because it was "so hurtful".
"We were heartbroken at first," Morvan said. "The media made it happen so that it looked like the fans had left us out to dry, unhappy."
He added: "But it wasn't true because later I found out that people were saying we loved you. 'You didn't sing on the record but you brought so much love and happiness and smiles to our lot' and 'my daughter was born because of your music'.
"But watching TV, back then I was like, 'OK, we can't watch TV anymore' because it was hurtful to see the steam rolling over the cities. It was like, Oh my God, we are done. We're finished. We'll never work in this town again.
"But later I realised that Milli Vanilli was a guilty pleasure. Millions of people at their home doing the dishes or whatever they were doing were listening to Milli Vanilli. Milli Vanilli never left their home. It was a guilty pleasure."
Where is Fab Morvan now?
After his rapid rise to fame and mighty fall from the spotlight, Morvan revealed he has found true happiness with the help of music.
Now the singer lives happily in the Netherlands with his love Tessa and their four children.
Speaking openly, he said: "At the end of the tunnel, I have a family, I have got four kids. I'm happy now, I'm making music. I can finally tell the world my world my story. Every member that were attached to these projects are able to tell the story."
Learning from Milli Vanilli
Looking back, Morvan has learned a lot about his mistakes but also about how to move on and make a new life for himself.
He added: "When you love yourself and forgive yourself or whatever mistakes you made or the people who did things to you, then you can regain your self esteem, then you love yourself.
"So then you start to shine a little better, then you can work out be more healthy. Because you love what you do and you're good at what you do, then it can transform your life.
"The Milli Vanilli documentary is about reinvention: you can fall but you can stand back up. Surround yourself by good people who really, truly love you and want the best for you. We can all learn from it. I hope that this is a story that people can really learn from and change our lives."
Read more: Milli Vanilli
Watch Milli Vanilli on Paramount+ UK now
This article originally appeared on Yahoo TV UK at https://uk.news.yahoo.com/milli-vanilli-fab-morvan-feared-life-unsafe-100505413.html
