Ronan Keating says the members of Boyzone were “unprotected” and in “a dangerous space” when they were propelled to fame over 30 years ago.
Speaking at the worldwide premiere of Boyzone: No Matter What, the 47-year-old singer told Sky News: “We just played along with it all. I was 16, 17, 18 years of age. I was a child.”
Boyzone in 1995. Pic: AP
Now a father of five, Keating goes on: “But as you get older and your children get older… you realise what we went through as kids and how unprotected we were and what a dangerous space it was.”
In 1993, five working-class lads from Dublin, Ronan Keating, Stephen Gately, Keith Duffy, Shane Lynch and Mikey Graham were plucked from obscurity by talent manager Louis Walsh and moulded into stars.
Breaking into the UK charts the following year, they had conquered the world by the mid-1990s.
Six number one hits and five number one albums followed, with 25 million records sold across the world.
A master of promotion, former X Factor judge Walsh worked hard to keep the boys’ names in the papers, but that exposure came at a cost.
In October, the death of ex-One Direction star Liam Payne after falling from the third-floor balcony of a hotel in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires had drew a sharp focus on the duty of care offered to those thrust into the spotlight at a young age.
But Keating says back then it was different: “Our duty of care would not have been anything. It would never have been taken into account.”
Keating performing his first solo hit When You Say Nothing At All in 2000. Pic: Reuters
Despite that, he says the band owe Walsh a lot: “We wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for what Louis did for Boyzone, what he put on the line for us.
“He has apologised and said sorry for the words that he said, the things he’s done. Somewhat. It’s tough, it’s hard, and at times my relationship with Louis – well, it’s non-existent. But I am very grateful for the opportunity he gave Boyzone and me in the beginning.”
Shane Lynch too, is forgiving when it comes to past tabloid press intrusion into his private life.
Lynch, 48, tells Sky News: “A story’s a story. A paper’s a paper. People like to hear bad stuff about you. That’s what gets them going, makes their own life feel better.
“Sometimes we were subjected to that little bit more than others. But that said, as Louis Walsh says, ‘You made the front paper!'”
Two years into the band. Pic: Fryderyk Gabowicz/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images
So why now – three decades after they first met, and following two splits – have the band felt the need to tell their story?
Keating says: “I think with any story you need a start, a middle and an end. And I think we’ve after 30 years, we’ve finally got that.”
Of course, one key element of Boyzone is missing, with the death of Stephen Gately back in 2009 (a result of an undiagnosed heart condition) meaning the five will never again take to the stage.
Band members carried Stephen Gately’s coffin at his funeral in 2009. Pic: AP
Despite his loss, the remaining members see the three-part documentary as a form of tribute to their lost member, describing it as a way to celebrate and work with him again.
In tribute, Keith Duffy, 50, dressed for the event with Gately very much in mind, telling Sky News: “This shirt is for Steo. He loved a bit of print. He loved a bit of sequins. I found the perfect shirt and red was his favourite colour. I am representing Stephen tonight.”
Mikey Graham, who contributed to the documentary, did not attend the red carpet.
Sky News has contacted Louis Walsh for comment.
Boyzone: No Matter What is available on Sky and streaming service Now from Sunday 2 February.