AFTER ten years at the top - during which they have sold an incredible 40million albums worldwide - Westlife are heading to No1 again with new album Back Home. Here, in Day Two of her exclusive chat with the band during a night out with them in Dublin, VICTORIA NEWTON hears from Mark Feehily and Kian Egan.

MARK FEEHILY says his decision to announce to the world that he is gay is the best thing he has ever done.

The WESTLIFE star, 27, had kept his sexuality a secret for years while the band climbed to the top and went on to notch 14 No1 singles and six No1 albums.

His close friends and family knew the truth but Mark hadn’t told his legions of fans until he came out in a Sun interview with me in August 2005.

Now, two years later, the Irish star says he is happier than ever.

In an exclusive interview, he told me: “Life is a million times better since I came out.

“Since the last time I spoke to you my life has changed so much.

“I’m still the same person, I still do the same job, yet it feels like a lot has changed. It was just a relief to finally say what I said.

“I’m a very honest person so for people to not know about one of the biggest parts of me, my sexuality, felt strange.

“Once I’d come out, people knew the real me and it felt fantastic.”

Secret

Mark feared Westlife’s fans would abandon him and bandmates NICKY BYRNE, 29, SHANE FILAN, 28, and KIAN EGAN, 27 - but he was stunned and delighted by their supportive reaction.

He said: “They were amazing. Fans, family, friends - no one made a negative comment. I think there’s still a long way to go until society accepts people’s sexuality but it has come a long way already.

“It’s so much better these days. Shows like Big Brother help and there are gay people in rock bands and pop groups and it’s no longer a big deal.

“There always was, of course, but it’s not a secret any more. It’s good that there are a variety of gay people in the public eye. It helps break down the stereotypes.”

Mark is now happily in a relationship with ex-boyband star KEVIN McDAID.

He continued: “We’ve been together for two years. Meeting him is the best thing that has ever happened to me. We are very happy.

“I was so in need of that other person in my life but for a long time I just pushed that whole issue to the side.

“I didn’t have to think about it because I was in Westlife and we were so busy.

“But as I got older and more mature I realised I needed to do something about it.

“There is a whole process that goes with coming out. For some it can take ten seconds, for others it can take ten years.

“I had to go through my process in the public eye, which probably made it more prolonged. But I got through it and was finally ready to come out. It’s a massive step.”

But Mark isn’t ready to do an ELTON JOHN and walk down the aisle with his partner just yet.

He explained: “Kevin and I haven’t thought about getting married. It’s good that gay couples can have the same legal rights as a straight couple.

“The idea that a person would be entitled to nothing if their gay partner died would enrage me, so it’s good that there is now legal protection.”

Westlife have sold an incredible 40million albums around the world.

Yet Mark feels really passionate about their latest because there is more original material on it and fewer covers.

He explained: “When you go down certain roads of music you sometimes aren’t 100 per cent happy with it.

“I enjoyed singing the songs on The Love Album, our last one, but there are other styles I want to sing

“I want a sound that we believe in, that is good quality. I was no longer willing to get up in front of millions of people and sing something I didn’t believe in.

“Sometimes we’d go to our nice houses for Christmas with a No1 album in the bag but we’d be thinking, ‘I want something more’.

“I don’t want to change what Westlife is but I want to go back to making what I feel are better songs. Our best is original pop. I’m more proud of this album than I was of the others.”

Westlife are often thought of as the bland men of pop. Nicky said in yesterday’s Sun how the public think of the band as four blokes perched on stools and with no personality.

But my night out with the boys proved they have bags of character - and even a few rock ’n’ roll credentials.

Forget LED ZEPPELIN’s antics, young Mark has earned himself a ban from the trendy Mondrian Hotel in LA, home to the infamous celeb hangout the Skybar.

Apparently he had had a little too much to drink and decided to throw things out of the hotel window.

His bandmates were not impressed - especially Shane, whose room he was in at the time.

Shane told me: “I was in my room with my wife when there was a knock at the door and a security guard said, ‘What do you think you’re doing?’

“I told him I was having a quiet night in with my wife. I didn’t realise Mark was hiding in there having chucked things out of the window.

“We had to pay a £100 fine and Mark got thrown out of the hotel and is now banned for life.”

Credit/Source: www.thesun.co.uk

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