Billie Piper Says She's $17 Million In Debt To Former Label Virgin Records

English actress Billie Piper has reflected on her former music career, revealing that she’s in millions of dollars in debt to label Virgin Records.

At just 15 years old, Piper became the youngest woman to top the UK Singles Chart with Because We Want To in 1998. Her follow-up single, Girlfriend, also went to #1.

She then released her debut album, Honey To The B, which went platinum in the UK after peaking at #14 on the Albums Chart and selling over 300,000 copies. In 2000, Piper released her second album, Walk Of Life, which debuted at the same spot but didn’t retain momentum, only getting to silver instead of platinum. Unfortunately, the album didn’t experience the same longevity and chart success as its predecessor.

By 2004, Piper had launched her acting career. In 2005, she starred as Rose Tyler in the reboot of Doctor Who, following the iconic sci-fi series’ 15-year absence.

Piper recently revisited her music career in conversation with singer Jessie Ware on her Table Manners podcast, discussing the debt with Innocent Records—a subsidiary of Virgin Records—a contract she signed at 15 years old.

The debt is reportedly around £9million, which is rounded to approximately $17 million AUD. “I’m still in debt to Virgin. If I ever release an album, which I won’t, I’d probably have to pay off that debt. It’s like a university debt,” Piper said.

“You do all these big promotional tours, which I absolutely hated. I hated going off.”

You can listen to the interview here and revisit Piper’s hit, Because We Want To, below.

You can watch Piper in the new Netflix film Scoop alongside Gillian Anderson (The X-Files, Sex Education) and Rufus Sewell (A Knight’s Tale, The Legend Of Zorro).

In the film, based on a true story, Piper portrays Sam McAlister, the TV producer who locked in the explosive Newsnight interview with Prince Andrew (played by Sewell). The movie is based on McAlister’s book.

The Netflix synopsis describes the film like so: “An insider account of how the women of ‘Newsnight’ secured Prince Andrew's infamous 2019 interview about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.”