Manon Bannerman, 24, announced in February (26) that she was taking a break from the manufactured girl group for her “health and wellbeing” – with the news sparking concern among fans.
KATSEYE star Lara Raj has insisted there’s “nothing but love” between bandmate Manon Bannerman and the rest of the group.
Manon, 24, announced in February (26) that she was taking a break from the manufactured girl group for her “health and wellbeing” – with the news sparking concern among fans.
However, Lara has now opened up about Manon’s hiatus, telling Vanity Fair that no-one knows “what goes on” behind closed doors.
She said: “The safest space that we had was within the six of us. People just have no idea what goes on. They don’t.
“It’s nothing but love between us.”
Lara’s comments to Vanity Fair come after her bandmate Sophia Laforteza said “the door is always open” for Manon to rejoin the group.
She told Allure: “Because we did announce that it is about her well-being, it’s not our place or anybody else’s place to rush her.
“We want to give her all the time that she needs, all the space that she needs, and so we don’t want to make any assumptions, set anything in stone… She really deserves that and the door is always open.
“We love her and the fans love her. The people love her. They love KATSEYE. If I was in their place, I would be asking too, and so we understand. But what we can say is that we wish that you could just keep extending love and support and patience and all those things, because all of us deserve that. Anybody does.”
Manon took to Instagram last month (Jun26) to reassure fans about her wellbeing, as she insisted that she’s “never been healthier, happier, or more grateful. grateful for the people who love me, care for me, make me laugh, and remind me what really matters. feeling very lucky to be here”.
KATSEYE found fame after they were put together in Netflix competition series Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE, and have enjoyed chart hits with songs such as Internet Girl and Pinky Up.
However, during an interview with the BBC in November 2025, they admitted that the comments they receive online “can get really heavy” – with some trolls even going as far as to send death threats.
Sophia sighed: “No human is supposed to receive that much feedback on something that they’ve created, and so we’re learning to do what we want, work as hard as we can, know that we just did something we love and try to stay off of that and not have that be our validation or the reason why we do what we do.”
Lara Raj: ‘People have no idea what goes on in KATSEYE’
