Bryan ... needed wheelchair

EXCLUSIVE

BRYAN McFADDEN pleaded to be allowed to go home after collapsing on Westlife's gruelling U.S. tour.

The exhausted singer passed out minutes after performing on a New York radio show and was put in a wheelchair because he was too weak to walk.

He was rushed to hospital and doctors diagnosed nervous exhaustion and told him to rest.

Bryan, 20, begged record company bosses to let him go back to his parents in Dublin rather than stay in his hotel. When he arrived in Ireland he was helped off the plane, still in a wheelchair.

Bryan told me: "One minute I was fine, the next I collapsed. I thought I would die. The doctor said I needed to rest.

"But I wanted to be with Mum and Dad, not lying in a hotel room. So they put me on the first flight out to Dublin.

"We haven't had a day off since Christmas and I spend most of the time travelling. I'm not moaning because I know how lucky I am."

Westlife are on a month-long tour to plug their debut U.S. single Swear It Again, which is at No44 in the Billboard charts.

Before that they played weeks of gigs in America, South America and Europe.

Bryan rejoined the boys in Boston last Sunday after a week off.

He added: "I couldn't take any more time off - this tour's important. The show must go on."

Meanwhile, I can reveal that Bryan's colleague, Mark Feehily, is secretly dating American teen sensation Mandy Moore.