Nadine Coyle still can’t live down Popstars age lie scandal as fan throws passport at her 20 years on

Nadine Coyle has admitted she still gets mocked over the 20-year-old Popstars drama that saw her lie about her age and claim not to know where her passport was - saying a fan thew their passport at her just last week.

The Girls Aloud star made her name in reality show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002, but before appearing in the ITV show where she met her bandmates, she had an ill-fated brush with fame on the Irish version of the show.

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She first appeared as a 16-year-old looking for fame in the Irish version of Popstars in 2001 but was booted from the show after a now-infamous scene where she introduced herself on camera and gave her real date of birth, having lied to producers that she was in fact 18 to make the age limit for the series.

Coyle then pretended to frantically search for her "missing" passport to prove she was 18, even calling home to get her mum to look for it, before eventually admitting that she had lied.

The singer, now 36, said that even 20 years on she was unable to live it down, telling Metro: "I did a show in Belfast last week, and you know the way people throw stuff on stage, I’ve been thrown an actual passport!’

"Their actual passport! And you’re looking at it going 'This is someone’s actual passport.' Not a pretend one, not one that they’ve made for the night."

She also said that on a recent photo shoot she reduced the hair and make-up team to hysterics after asking for a shot with a plain background so that she could use it to renew her passport, saying they wouldn't take her seriously.

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It all worked out well for Coyle in the end as Louis Walsh, who judged both the Irish and ITV shows, asked her back to audition for Popstars: The Rivals where she became a megastar with Girls Aloud, while the group Six that she was ousted from folded not long after their initial success.

But she added: "I still can’t even mention the word passport anymore without it turning into a whole thing."

Watch: Nadine Coyle hopes late friend Sarah Harding's spirit will visit her one day