00s pop icon vows to never return to boy band after ‘selfish’ decision to quit --[Reported by Umva mag]

Brian McFadden shocked fans when he left the boyband, Westlife in 2004. Two decades later he has dubbed the decision ‘selfish’ but vows he will never return.

Appearing on the Nicky Bryne HQ podcast hosted by his former bandmate, Nicky Byrne, 46, the now successful solo artist, 44, had a candid conversation that has been two decades in the making.

‘I’ve gotta say to you something, my idea of why I left has changed every couple of years over the past 20 years,’ Brian told his pal. ‘I try and put myself back in the headspace that I was at the time, and different things start to come into my head as to why it was.’

At the time of Brian’s decision, he was married to Atomic Kitten star Kerry Katona, 44, had two young children and was at the point where he knew he wanted to spend more time at home.

He realised it was something that wasn’t going to happen if he stayed in the band, which was created by Louis Walsh in 1998, as they were showing no signs of slowing down.

They had already had four number ones in the UK within a calendar year, the first artists to do so won two Brit Awards and embarked on multiple successful tours and more were to come.

Referring back to the moment he realised how busy his life was, he recalled the time the group were handed a copy of a calendar with their schedule for the following year, showing that there was no time to go home and spend quality time with his family.

‘My head felt swamped and it felt like the only way I could get that swamped feeling away was by stepping back and taking a look at my life and starting again basically,’ he explained.

Brian continued to say that, looking back, ‘it was probably too early to leave’ and thinks he could have stayed for another tour with the band, which also included Mark Feehily, now 44, Shane Filan, 45, and Kian Egan, 44, if they had been given time off.

‘But you know, that’s me. In that space and time, I can be very selfish, by the way, because I don’t think of other people when I make those decisions, but that’s just how I’ve always been,’ he said. ‘I’m very impulsive’.

Brian’s departure from the band was announced on March 9, 2004, in a press conference, with the then 24-year-old telling media he would be leaving the group to spend more time with his family and pursue solo projects.

He told Nicky he can see now that he was ‘making a very selfish decision because I didn’t take you four into consideration, but I just needed to sort my head out.’

Revealing his own feelings from the day of the press conference, Nicky recalled feeling ‘annoyed’ and ‘scared’ for the future of Westlife but mostly ‘hurt’. However, he told Brian that ultimately, he understood why he made the call to leave.

Despite rumours that circulated after the press conference, Brian has maintained that he never left the band because of animosity with other members and told Nicky: ‘I have no bad blood.’

He said he does understand though why there would be ‘some feelings’ toward him.

‘The six years in Westlife were the best years of my life.’ Brian said. ‘Anytime I talk about those years, I have a smile on my face. It was just epic, and I hate to think the day I die that that was just tainted by us not being able to get on 20 years later when it’s worked out for everybody.’

He did not elaborate further on who may be harbouring ill feelings toward him.

As for whether he would ever rejoin the band, he said he would ‘never go back’ as it ‘wouldn’t make sense’.

Brian explained that he sees Westlife as two different things, one when he was in the group and their post-Brian era in which they blew up in Australia with their single Raise Me Up, going on to release multiple albums and create a legacy as a band of four.

As for his own legacy, in addition to being a successful artist, Brian has partnered with Keith Duffy from Boyzone to create Boyzlife. The duo has released two original albums and is currently embarking on a tour around the UK and Ireland.

For full Boyzlife tour dates and ticket information, visit here.

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