Shane Lynch has opened up about Stephen Gately’s struggle to come out as gay while being a part of Boyzone.
Speaking on last night’s episode of Celebrity Big Brother, Shane told his housemates that Stephen, who passed away back in 2009, was blackmailed into publicly coming out, and it “nearly destroyed him”.
“Obviously me and boys always knew Stephen was gay. That was never a question, because his boyfriends used to come on the road with us,” Shane said.
“I think in the early 90s when we came over to the UK, being in a boyband and being gay, nobody had come out. It was just not the done thing to do.”
.@shanelynchlife gives an insight into what it’s like to come out as a member of a boyband… #CBB pic.twitter.com/9MJPuXEMsI
— Big Brother UK (@bbuk) January 11, 2018
When asked if it was their management who told Stephen to keep quiet, he replied, “It would have been management, all swept under the carpet.”
“There’s an understanding amongst celebrities, whatever you want to call it, but he was meant to be dating Baby Spice and all that stuff. It’s just red herrings.”
Shane then said, “We were in Germany on tour and we got a phone call to say the press were going to run with a story on him. He was distraught. They said to him, look you can tell your story or we’re going to print our story. It nearly destroyed him.”
“Then he did, he came out and he couldn’t believe it himself, the weight off his shoulder, the lie has now gone. The support he got from our fans, they were the best.
“From that point on, he flourished. He grew into this beaming man of joy. He was a joy of life. I have a strong place in my heart for him,” he added.
Shane has already won praise on CBB for the way he spoke about Stephen’s tragic death.Â
