Westlife’s Mark Feehily recalls seeing Boyzone’s Stephen Gately the day he came out publicly

Words: Jamie Tabberer; picture: By Matt Holyoak

Westlife star Mark Feehily has reflected on working with the late Stephen Gately, including on the day the Boyzone singer came out publicly as gay.

‘No Matter What’ singer Stephen came out in an interview with The Sun in June 1999, at the age of 23, becoming one the first boyband members ever to declare their sexuality publicly. Mark followed suit in 2005.

In 2018, Stephen’s bandmate Shayne Lynch claimed on Celebrity Big Brother of Stephen coming out: “We were in Germany on tour and we got a phone call to say the press was going to run with a story on him. He was distraught.

“They said to him, look, you can tell your story or we’re going to print our story. It nearly destroyed him. Then he did, he came out and he couldn’t believe it himself, the weight off his shoulder, the lie has now gone.”

“Boyzone were like our older brothers”

Mark, speaking at an event at the Pan Pacific London hotel to celebrate Westlife’s new album Wildest Dreams, told Attitude last Friday: “We were on tour with Boyzone when the whole thing broke. […] I remember seeing him sitting backstage on a flight case, hands on his legs, his head and his little fringe hanging down. He was looking at the floor. He looked like someone thinking: ‘That’s it. The game is up. I’m found out. Game over. Done.’

“When I came out, I had to worry a lot less. I was grateful; there was a sense of relief.”

The dad-of-one furthermore added he “didn’t have to be the first anything” because of Stephen, explaining: “Boyzone were like our older brothers. […] I’m thankful I had a chance to thank him before he passed away. But if he was here now, I’d have a lot more to thank him for than I did when I last spoke to him. He was a very nice person.”

The star also admitted he was guarded around Stephen because he was afraid of being outed “by association.”

“Any gay person reading this who’s been in the closet and been around people who were out [might relate] – I was in that situation with Stephen,” he explained. “You get afraid and distance yourself. What if we met in the corridor and people came? ‘Oh, I knew it, I knew it!’

“There’s probably a term for that… probably internalised homophobia. I was afraid by association. ‘If people see me having a laugh with Stephen, they might put two and two together.’

“I regret that. If he was here tonight we’d be having a completely different conversation, whereas I was much more guarded when I was around him and knew him. We never had a conversation about me being gay as I’d have run a f***ing million miles.”

Adding that Westlife opened for Boyzone on two tours, the 41-year-old also said: “Never once did he say: ‘Ah, come on, it’s just me and you, tell me.’ Never ever.”

Stephen died of a congenital heart defect in 2009.

Westlife’s new album Wildest Dreams is out on 26 November 2021.

The Attitude December issue is out now.

Subscribe in print and get your first three issues for just £1 each, or digitally for just over £1.50 per issue.