May 3, 2000 - Smash Hits - Westlife's Secret Shame Shocker!
Fights with Five, Boyzone rip-offs & laydeez - Westlfie are hardly out of the papers. We got the boys to set some of the weirder rioumours straight...
Mark
"I'm going solo!"
Could the 'quiet one' be planning a bid for a solo stardom?
Mark Feehily, member of top Irish combo, Westlife, shocked his loyal fans today by announcing he was quiting the band...
"The band can't last forever, it has to end some time and I'd love to think I had enough talent to being in crowda of my own. But I'd never consider leaving the band. If the band split then of course I'd consider going solo, but at the moment we're a team, and whether things are going well or badly you have to stick together.
At the same time, I don't think there's anything wrong with teh solo singles like Ronan and the Spice Girls have done and maybe in a few years time I'd be interested in collaborating with other people. I'd lvoe to work with Mariah Carey or Left Eye TLC because I love women rappers. It wouldn't be a typical Westlife ballad with soem rap over the top though, I'd go for something different.
I'd love to do a gig on my own. If it was charity gig I'd do it straight away, for nothing. When I'm on stage I just totally lose my shyness so it wouldn't be a problem. I wouldn't say I've got an ambition to perform solo because I'm totally happy at the moment, but if it would be ncie to find out if I'm talented enough to do a whole show on my own. Maybe after Westlife.
I've been really lucky with the papers 'cos I haven't had any bad stories about me. Bryan's come off the worst. I feel sorry for him."
Kian
"My �1,000,000 haircare bill"
Flicky-haired heartthrob in 'vain' accusation shocker!
Westlife's record label could be forced out of business - by one of theire artist's haircare bills! Kian Egan, 20...
"I don't care about my hair that much, you're just taking the mick out of me! OK, I admit, when the band started I used to be quite obsessed. My hair was longer and I sued to get little spots on my forehead so I was always trying to cover them. All of us in Westlife are as vain as each other, but I think if you looked at other bands you'd see they're far worse than us!
Sometimes you can have a funny story, like everyone going on about my hair, and it's just a laugh, but then I worry that thepeople reading the stories don't realise it's a joke. I've had one bad story written about me, an ex-girlfriend sold a story to News of the World and about 60% of it was lies. When I saw the paper for the first time, I nearly died. It was on the front page in Ireland, and a month later, in England so I had to put up with it twice! It affected me a lot the first time, but it was just annoying the second time round.
I don't have as hard a time in the papers as Bryan though. Poor Bryan gets rumour thrown at him 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He may have done one or two little things at the beginning that were blown out of proportion, but then people just started picking on him straight away and it's continued and continued."
Shane
"I married a horse"
Westlife star thinks horses are the mane attraction!
Westlifer Shane Filan has quit music to spend more time with his four-legged friends. "Horses are my life..."
"I've been thinking about doing it, marrying a horse. We'd have a stable relationship, boom, boom. But seriously, I do love horses. And if people say I'm obsessed, fair enough, but it's not a passion, it's a business too. We've got 55 at home, my dad and my brother Liam buy and sell them.
I've been lucky, people haven't made many things about me, though there are a load of interviews in the papers I don't remember doing! They can be quite savage though. My mum phoned up once and told me, 'There's a story in the papers aboubt Kian', and he was really upset, then his mum was upset which made Kian worse! The stort isn't even true.
And poor Bryan, there's loads about him. He can't even go out with a girl without being married for ten years! That's what happened with kerry Kitten, and now he gets embarrassed when he sees her - it's affected their friendship. But if a bad story comes out about one of us, the other four are there for him. We stick together."
Nicky
"I am Ronan's secret twin"
Were Boyzone and Westlife singers seperated at birth?
A national newspaper today announced it had proof that Nicky Byrne and Boyxone star Ronan Keating are, in fact, brothers...
"I don't get teased much now, but when we started I used to get, 'You must be Ronan's brother - you're the splitting image of hima nd you talk just like him.' It's orbably just 'cos we come from very nejar each other.
Ronan's a huge celebrity with great charisma and loads of experienc, and without him and his advice we wouldn't be where we are today. But I don't want to be just like Ronan, I'm my own person. I've got blond hair and blue eyes, but I'm nothing like him. I haven't had anything that bad written about me but I was on the front page of a tabloid saying I'd leave Westlife tomorrow to marry Georgina. It was rubbish, I never said it. It was totally made up - we were disgusted.
There's been a lot of stuff about us fighting with Five, but we're not. We're not best friends, but we get on, we like their music and they're a great bunch of lads. But papers are here tofay and gone tomorrow, a headline is soon forgotten. Don't get me wrong - if it's a really bad story, you dwell on it. It affects people differently, we just try and forget about it."
Bryan
"My 5,000,000 lovers"
Boyband Romeo caught at it again!
It's official! Westlife's Bryan McFadden has now dated every single female popo star on the planet. A proud Mrs McFadden told us...
"Whatever the papers say, I haven't been on many dates - that's the truth. Last time I went on a date was with Kerry, before Christmas. We went to the cinema, then we went shopping the next day. That was when someone took a photo of us and it got into the papers.
I haven't been on a date with her since because I haven't had time, but also because of the papers. They built it up and said that we were in love after two days which was ridiculous. It's a pity because she's a lovely girl.
I was giong out with Jamie Hepburn, but I was with her and her boyfriend, then they said I was supposed ti be getting married to KerryAnn, which was so stupid - she used to babysit me when I was a kid. We were introduced at the Pepsi Chart and the next day it was in the papers that I was going out with her. The worst thing wasthat I was actually going out with somebody at the time - I have had a couple of girlfriends since I've been in Westlife. Then there was something about me and Hannah 7 and that was just stupid 'cos I've been friends with her and Bradley for ages. I was playing pool with Bradley, Hannah and Hannah's two flatmates and again, it was in the papers the next day.
I admit that I did go on a date with Kerry, but I wasn't going out with her properly, just two dates. There have been so many stories and none of them has been true. I did go on a date with Kerry and I did see Lene from Aqua for a little while, but it gets really, really annoying when the papers are going on about you being in love when it's not true.
People think I'm the kind of bloke who tries it on with every grl, and that makes me feel awful. No girl wil want to go on a date with me now because she knows that as soon as we go out it will be in the papers. You can't even have a casual fling. I've been friends with Atomic Kitten, S Club 7 and Steps for a long time and we can't go out for a drink, even in a group because it will be in the papers.
There have been lots of stories abotu Westlife, but I probably get it the worst. There was that story that every time I see a McDonald's I have to go in and eat five burgers and there was a story that I went into a nightclub and got into a fight, just so much stupid stuff. It seems anything I do ends up on the front page. It's just one of the things that comes with the business so I've just got to deal with it."