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Issue # 4
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-Bigger Than Boyzone- |
| Not so for Nicky Byrne and Georgina Ahern.
Nicky believes the rest of the band view his relationship longingly. 'I
think a lot of the guys in the band do feel a bit jealous of me. If I'm
feeling down, I've always got Georgina there for me and she's always got
me there for her. You don't realise how important it is until you have
it. You actually think, I couldn't live without it, I really couldn't.'
They met at school, before he was famous, before Bertie Ahern was Prime Minister, even before Nicky had any idea Georgina's father was a politician. 'She was very quiet at school. I was always having a laugh, charming the teachers. I got one of my friends to ask her out for me - I was 14 or 15 - and she said no. I was quite upset. I left it then for a year. One of the guys then asked her again for me without me knowing and she said yes. That was great.' Nicky is extremely close to his family. When he's at home he will often sit up until 3am, having cups of teas with his mum. 'When I started liking Georgina I went home and told me mum I'd found the girl I was going to marry. She laughed at me. Then, about a year later, Georgina was on the news with her dad. It was the budget in Ireland and he was Minister of Finances and standing with the briefcase. Georgina was there with her younger sister Cecilia. I was eating my dinner and said, "Mum, mum, there she is," and my whole family turned around.' Is she the girl he is going to marry? 'Hopefully, please God. But who knows. We've been going together for five years now. So, it's a long time. We're best friends. We've got the closest relationship I think anyone can ever have.' Georgina is studying buisness administration and not about to dangle from her boyfriend's arm. 'We're working from 7am till 11pm, really working hard, so it would be unfair to bring Georgina over and for her to miss college. Unfair on both of us.' So does she get jealous of the fans or they of her? 'She's been absolutely phenomenal about all the female attention. At the start I thought she was going to be a little bit wary, but she wasn't at all. She always wanted me to be happy and she knew that above everything this was what I wanted to do.' 'If she's at my house, there could be a knock on the door from fans. Girls from all over the world have travelled to our house to see us and get our autographs. She'd come out and speak to them.' They haven't moved in together because he's never at home. She still lives with her mother. He would be worried if she was in a house on her own. 'I think we're a bit young, to be honest with you, as well.' He says they will wait until Westlife get to the level of Boyzone, who now spen more time with their families, having been successful all over the world. Nicky has adjusted to fame and the lifestyle more easily than the rest of the band because of his pre-band experience as a youth international goalkeeper for Ireland. At the age of 16 he was signed to Leeds United and joined their youth team. It was an unhappy period of his life. Desperately homesick on his first night, he spent an hour-and-a-half crying on the phone to his mother, asking why he was there. He's not ashamed to admit he is still a mummy's boy. At Leeds, his height five foot nine-and-a-half, was against him. He recieved what he maintains was rough treatment. Nicky gelt that an arm around the shoulder and encouragement to have another go would have been the best attitude. Instead, he got abuse and shouting. The purpose-built accomodation in Weatherby, by the training ground, an hour outside Leeds, made him feel isolated and hemmed in by the regimented lifestyle. Eventually, the decision was made for him and he was told, in a world of goalkeepers the likes of Arsenal's David Seaman are well over six feet, that there was no chance for him. When he was growing up, Nicky had three dreams: to become a footballer, a policeman and a pop star. Back home from Leeds, he sat the exams to join the garda (the Irish police). Having momentarily tasted the money and lifestyle of international football, it was hard to adjust and return to school homework. Being close to the Prime Minister also meant brushes with the rich, powerful and glamorous. He met Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone at the opening of Planet Hollywood in Dublin, and wanted to be a part of that world. At Leeds, one of his team-mates, taken with his voice, said he should be in Boyzone. When he heard of the Westlife audition, he practised diligently for a week. 'I'm a careful guy. I don't get off on risks, I'd never touch a drug, I'd never do anything like that because I'd be afraid. It's not the type of person I am. I want to be a successful person. I'm very determined; mentally I hate to lose. I'm a very easy-going person off the field, and I get along with nearly everybody. On the field, if I'm losing I get annoyed.' Just after Westlife's first single came out in April, Nicky recieved notification that he had been accepted for training in the Garda. Polite and modest boy that he is, he got his mum to write back saying something else had come up. He was back in the winning team. |
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