On May 31 1998 Geri Halliwell finally announced her departure from the Spice Girls through her solicitor who announced it and read a prepared statement which read: "Sadly I would like to confirm that I have left the Spice Girls. This is because of differences between us. I am sure that the group will continue to be successful and I wish them all the best". Geri said that she was just exhausted after all the touring and work that they had been doing recently and just needed to take time out and relax for a while, however rumours continued to circulate that she had fallen out with one of the other girls - many rumours pointed towards Melanie B, however this was never confirmed but was strongly hinted in the Autobiographies of Geri, Victoria and Melanie B.

The news that Geri had left the band came as a shock to many of the fans, and it quickly became the biggest entertainment news of the year. The remaining four members insisted that they would carry on as normal and continue the tour of America. All of the bands plans changed after Geri left, the tracks that had been recorded throughout the first half of that year had to be scrapped, the live album was cancelled as was a rumoured animated movie by Disney.

The last single to be taken off Spiceworld was "Viva Forever" as the video for the single was animated and had been produced before Geri's departure she was still featured in it - there was not enough time to have it re-done and the girls were too busy on tour to organise the changes so it was released as it was. While they were on tour they managed to find time to record and release another song "goodbye" in December 1998, although it was written before Geri's departure it was still seen as a tribute to her - it topped the charts in the UK and became their third Christmas number one in a row, which equals the record set by the Beatles. "Goodbye" also stayed at number one in Canada for sixteen weeks.