Shane Filan has told how it “felt as if somebody had died” when he discovered he was bankrupt.
The Westlife star was forced to declare bankruptcy after being left with €23 million worth of debts from his failed property development business.
But Shane, 35, said he still found it intensely hard to deal with the reality in 2012.
He said: “On June 10, 2012, my solicitor rang and told me I was bankrupt. My whole life flashed before my eyes. It felt as if somebody had died.
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“Everything was gone – my home, the cars, all of our money. I sobbed inconsolably. This was the bottom of the barrel. And next day I had to go and play a pop concert.”
The Everything To Me singer added that it was “horrible, hideous, humiliating” when it was first leaked that he was financially up a creek without a paddle.
Shane said he initially decided to invest in property after realising he needed a “safety net” when Brian McFadden quit Westlife and “made it all seem precarious”.
But writing in his autobiography, the Sligo star said he knew he was in “deep, deep s**t” when attempts to deal with the banks didn’t work.
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He said: “In 2009 came a big property crash in Ireland. I was becoming horribly stressed. I could hardly sleep for worrying about it.
“And then Ulster Bank asked for their money back. It felt like Armageddon. Finbarr and I knew we were in deep, deep s**t.”
He added: “Looking back, it’s utterly bizarre that a bank would lend so much money to a 25-year-old pop star with no knowledge of the property market.”
