Becoming a pop star is many little girls’ dreams, but for the women on this list, once that dream was realised, they decided to pursue something else entirely.
From salon owners to food truck vendors, here are the early noughties pop princesses who walked away from music to run their own businesses.
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© GettyWilla Ford
Willa Ford is best known for her 2001 single, I Wanna Be Bad, with the tune reaching number four on the Billboard dance charts in 2001 when the singer was just 20 years old.
After releasing her debut album Willa Was Here, the singer also tried her hand at acting: starring in The Anna Nicole Smith biopic in 2013.
But it was while working with an interior designer on her home in Texas, during her first marriage to hockey player Mike Modano, that Willa found her calling.
In a 2019 interview with Glamour, she said: "As I was doing more and more design, I started recognising I was feeling fulfilled in the same way as I was when I was in the studio everyday."
She now owns and runs W Ford Interiors, an interior design company based in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Willa also stars alongside Scott Disick in his house-flipping programme, Flip It Like Disick.
The former noughties star has recently returned to singing, releasing new music in 2025 and 2026, though running W Ford Interiors continues to be her priority.
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© Instagram,GettyLouise Fudge
Louise Fudge was part of the girl group Supersister, whose hit single Coffee peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart in October 2000.
Louise sang in the group along with Eleanor Phillips and Tina Peacock but after the group split in 2002, she left the music industry entirely.
In 2015, the former pop star opened a hairdressing salon in Liverpool. The salon, Louise Fudge Hair and Beauty, was nominated for Hair Salon of the Year in 2017.
The girl group reunited in June 2025, returning on stage at Mighty Hoopla in Brockwell Park to perform Coffee, the single that started it all.
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© GettyBelinda Chapple
Belinda Chapple was part of the Aussie girl group, Bardot, which was formed through the talent television show Popstars when the singer was just 24 years old.
The talent show wasn't Belinda's first time on-screen, however, as the pop princess had been singing and dancing on Johnny Young's Talent School since she was just 13 years old.
The group split up just two and a half years after forming, in what was a "heartbreaking" "mutual decision".
After the band fell apart, Belinda tried to make a career for herself as a solo artist, releasing singles Move Together and Where It All Began, but ultimately went on to study design at the National Design Academy in the UK.
Belinda now runs House of Chapple, an interior design business, but she hasn't forgotten about her pop roots. Belinda reunited with Tiffani Wood and Kate Underwood from Bardot in 2020 to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the group's debut single, Poison.
She has also released her memoir about her time in the band, which was the basis for the 2023 fictional television series, Paper Dolls.
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© Getty,InstagramJordan Pruitt
Jordan Pruitt was best known for her album Outside Looking In as well as touring with The Cheetah Girls in 2006.
The singer of the H2O: Just Add Water theme, No Ordinary Girl, retired from singing at age 26. In an interview with People magazine, she said: "I really craved normalcy because I spent my whole childhood touring."
After leaving the world of singing behind, Jordan launched a mobile bar and coffee business with her husband. The Nashville-based mobile catering business, The Aero Bar, caters cocktails and coffee for events and weddings.
Almost a decade after leaving the music industry, Jordan announced her return in October 2026. She is set to release her memoir, On the Inside Looking Out, alongside new music.
