Louis Walsh's recent revelation revealed in a new Boyzone documentary left Ronan Keating ‘devastated’.
The new documentary by Sky, titled Boyzone: No Matter What, looks into the shocking story behind the Irish boyband, who were managed by Walsh.
It also features interviews with the band members, including Keating, Shane Lynch, Keith Duffy and Mikey Graham - with Stephen Gately, who passed away in 2009, featured in footage.
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One particular section of the doc has raised anger amongst fans, however, as members of the band recall numerous fake stories about their personal lives ending up in the papers.
Keating describes in the documentary how his family would call him up to ask if the stories were true, to which he would have to deny.
Walsh frankly admitted in the documentary, however, that he did it, saying: “Oh, I mean sometimes the boys would read stories in the papers about themselves that weren’t true and would say ‘oh who told them that’? I did… I told them, because I am promoting you. I bigged them up sometimes, but that’s fine.”
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The most shocking moment came when Walsh actually revealed that he had faked a plane crash that the band had been reported to be involved in, saying: “I had them in a plane crash once in Australia.”
Walsh laughed, while adding: “I forgot to tell their families I made it up, but there was no plane crash.”
The manager was bullish when asked if he felt guilty, saying: “I never felt guilty no way, I was promoting them, I was doing my job, I would do it all again yeah, absolutely, I’d do even more now.”
In a new interview with Yahoo UK, Keating told the outlet it was ‘devastating’ to learn about the extent of Walsh’s tactics.
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He said: “I guess we knew to a certain extent how much Louis was connected with the press, but I don't think we realised how far, how deep.
“That's quite a revelation when we got to hear [that], because we didn't do these interviews together.
“Curious made the film, [Boyzone] all made it together but they went away and interviewed Louis and the journalist [Paul Martin and Rav Singh], and then they came back and we compiled this together.”
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Regarding Walsh admitting to having a working relationship to The Sun reporter Rav Singh, Keating said: “That was heartbreaking, it was devastating to hear some of the things that [he said], the realisations of, actually, what was going on.
“We didn't realise to the extent, and again I don't think there's a film like this about a band — there's nothing like it as raw, as honest, and as ruthless at times."
Lynch said the band were always aware of the 'way Louis Walsh operates', adding: "And in fairness to him, Ireland and the name Louis Walsh, he's a big name and a big fish in the music industry."
He went on to say that Walsh was 'also learning on his own feet' and 'without him this journey wouldn't have existed'.
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Boyzone: For Better or Worse is available to watch on Sky now.
Topics: Louis Walsh, Music, Documentaries, TV and Film, TV
Michael Slavin