Boyzone’s Shane Lynch told his Celebrity Big Brother housemates about how former bandmate Stephen Gately was forced to come out as gay.
Speaking about it with fellow housemate India Willoughby she asked if Stephen Gately had been openly gay when the band started.
Shane Lynch said: “Obviously me and boys (in the band) knew Steo (Gatley) was gay. It wasn’t even a question because his boyfriends used to come on the road with us.
Lynch said they used red-herrings but a phone call while on tour changed everything.
.@shanelynchlife gives an insight into what it's like to come out as a member of a boyband… #CBB pic.twitter.com/9MJPuXEMsI
— Reality On 5 (@RealityOn5) January 11, 2018
We were in Germany on tour and he got a phone call to say that the press were going to run with a story on him.
He was distraught. They said to him ’you can tell your story, or we’re going to print our story.
It nearly destroyed him. It really nearly destroyed him.
Lynch said that after the phone call Gately came out and it lifted a weight off his shoulders, with Lynch praising the support Gatley got from Boyzone’s fans.
Boyzone's @shanelynchlife has revealed how the sound of the band has changed since Stephen Gately passed away… #CBB pic.twitter.com/xFHOdbAJrA
— Reality On 5 (@RealityOn5) January 8, 2018
