When popstars were not allowed to be themselves

Aileen C O’Reilly, who went on tour with Boyzone at the height of their fame, remembers a time when being gay popstar was kept under wraps. A fortnight ago, Westlife’s Mark Feehily joyfully announced his engagement to his secret boyfriend of six years and the band’s legions of fans cheered the happy couple on.

For me, reading the news was a bittersweet experience — while I’m absolutely thrilled for Mark and the fact that he was “allowed” to keep his partner out of the media glare for so long before knowing that his announcement on social media would be so rapturously received, I couldn’t help but feel desperately sad for a former much loved Irish boyband star who could only have dreamt of being allowed to be so at ease in his sexuality…