The singer Tweeted a picture of herself smiling nervously from her Japanese hotel roomAt this time last year, if there was anyone in the world of music you could not imagine being a mother, it would have been Cassie Smith (at the time Cassie Summers). With her venomous tongue, her promiscuous ways and her downright nasty attitude, it would have been less surprising to hear of the teenager eating her own young rather than nurturing them. Yet here we are, a mere 12 months down the line, and not only is she now married and happily raising her first child, Jody, born in mid-January, but the celebrity blogger and columnist is allegedly also a proud stepmother..if reports from this week are anything to go by.
It must have been difficult for Cassie in the early months of her marriage. To have your husband father a child with someone he slept with just before you got together can never be easy, but for that someone else to be your worst rival, in Cassie's case folk-pop star Katie Coyle, for whom she has never hidden her contempt and downright hatred, it stands to reason that it would grind you down a little. However, if this was the case, would visiting mother and child really be the best way to calm your anger?
According to celebrity magazines in Japan, the 18-year old is said to have touched down in Tokyo on Sunday night, before racing off in a blacked out Mercedes Benz car to meet her stepson for the first time. Later that night, Cassie posted pictures on Twitter of herself sitting alone in a darkened hotel room, but refused to tell her followers where she was. Reports say that she has visited the tour bus of Katie Coyle and Nadia Berry every night to spend time with her new stepson, although she keeps herself disguised each time she emerges from her chauffeur driven car.
So just why is Cassie so desperate to hide her very frequent visits to the bus? And more to the point, why hasn't her husband been with her? According to a spokesperson representing Katie Coyle, the Mind frontman has yet to visit his son, Lucas Eric Smith-Coyle, since Katie left the country to head to Japan, and in fact has only ever seen the 6-week-old once since his birth. Could it be that Cassie feels bad for the child on Jason's behalf, and is visiting as the kid's stepmother to try to forge some sort of link between the Smith and Coyle sides of his family, or is there more to this story than meets the eye?
The internet certainly seems to think so. Various fan sites across Japan are filled with rumours that Smith has been watching Katie every night from the side of the stage (although spurious rumours are commonplace among avid and imaginative Japanese fans so these must be taken with a pinch of salt.) Perhaps the most damning indictment of all comes from the singer's best friend however, as a seemingly unwitting Nadia Berry almost let slip what was really going on during a phone call to Culture Uncut.
"Sure, Cassie has been visiting our tour bus lately, but from my knowledge, that's only ever been to see Lucas," she started, keeping the theme of innocence and family ties up, before adding, "She's been on the bus quite a lot actually... but I don't really see the big deal."
Asked if she thought anything was going on between the pair, the former GirlSpice singer said: "Maybe she just wants to clear the air with Katie and become friends? From what I've seen, it's done a whole load of good, so it's great that she's trying. They seem a lot more comfortable around each other now, they've been getting on pretty well from what I've seen. Sure, the looks they give each other sometimes are a bit... yeah. Well, I don't know, I'm not always there with them, so I'd rather not go into that."
So, perhaps all is not as perfect and innocent as it has been portrayed...watch this space!