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RONAN KEATING HAS said it was “very hard to watch” Louis Walsh’s reaction to being presented with a copy of The Sun newspaper when it carried Stephen Gately’s “coming out” interview as part of a new Boyzone documentary.
A new documentary on the pop band, Boyzone: No Matter What, is coming to Sky Documentaries and NOW on 2 February.
The three-part documentary features never-before-seen footage of the band, as well as interviews with band members Ronan Keating, Shane Lynch, Keith Duffy, and Mikey Graham, as well former manager Louis Walsh.
Boyzone were formed in 1993 by Walsh as an Irish answer to Take That and went on to score nine Number One singles in Ireland and six in the UK, selling over 25 million records worldwide.
They split in 1999, but reformed in 2007 with Walsh as manager.
In 2009, Boyzone and Walsh seemingly parted on good terms, but in the years that followed Walsh labelled Keating as “talentless and spoiled”, and even called Keating a “prick” on Celebrity Big Brother.
The documentary charts Boyzone’s career, from their debut on The Late Late Show in 1995 to rows with Walsh, and it will also see them grapple with the sudden loss of Stephen Gately.
Gately died in 2009 of natural causes at the age of 33 shortly after the band had staged a comeback.
In the documentary, there is a scene where Keating, Walsh, and Gately’s sister Michelle are individually presented with a copy of The Sun newspaper from 1999, when it carried a front-page story on Gately “coming out”.
“Boyzone Stephen: I’m Gay and I’m in love” read the front-page spread with the then 23-year-old Gately.
It was widely reported at the time that Gately only conducted the interview with The Sun because the press was going to “out” him.
Keating tears up when he is handed the 1999 copy of The Sun with Gately’s interview, while his sister Michelle bursts into tears.
However, when Walsh is handed the copy of The Sun, he said: “Wow, what a great picture, I love it. It’s the lead story, it’s great to see he got the front page.”
When asked about this moment by The Journal, Keating said: “Without giving away any of the film, because we’re trying not to tell too many of the tales in the film, but all the truth comes out in this documentary.”
He added: “We want people to be able to sit down and make up their own minds from these things.
“When I watched that part of the film, it took the wind out of me. It was very hard to watch that.”
He added: “That’s only a small piece of three hours of a film, there’s a lot of those moments with lots of different people – journalists and so on – you just can’t believe just how ruthless people were.
“It’s devastating at times to watch and to hear it.”
Keating also told The Journal that Walsh is “incredibly honest in the film, and that’s wonderful that he has been that honest”.
“I think maybe he’s got to a stage in his life where he sees certain things in a different light now,” said Keating.
“It was his decision to be in the film and to say the things he said.”
Meanwhile, a picture of Keating, Lynch, and Duffy sharing a pint together last summer sparked rumours of a reunion.
Mikey Graham was absent from this meet-up, which is also featured in the documentary.
“That was Mikey’s decision to not be there, and you have to respect and appreciate that,” said Keating.
He added: “I spoke to Mikey, and we got to a stage where he wanted to be in the film, and I was delighted that he got to tell his story.
“I knew everybody was going to get their moment to tell their story and it’s so important that Mikey got to tell his.”
Meanwhile, Keating said it was the “right time and a good time” to film the documentary.
“There’s been a lot of water under the bridge, we’ve had good times and bad times,” said Keating.
“We’ve had fallouts, we’ve had, obviously, loss and we just thought, ‘if we’re ever going to do it, now’s the time’.
It was hours and hours of sitting in front of the camera and going through old footage.
“It was very therapeutic at times, very emotive, and I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved and I don’t think we could have made a better film.”
He added that it was a decision the band made together.
“Our children and our children’s children will get to see what we did and how big it was for a moment, and the people that we were then and the people we are now.
“We didn’t have social media in the 90s, so nobody got to see backstage – everything was behind closed doors, incredibly protected.
“All the bands today, you get to see everything, it’s all on social media, so this documentary is our way to show people.”
He added: “There’s so many people that were fans of Boyzone in the 90s that are going to be able to sit down now with a glass of wine and relive all of this time with us.
“It’s going to be very special for a lot of people.”
And when asked if there is any possibility for a reunion, Keating said he has “no idea”.
“God Knows. We’re here, right? This is a big step.”
The Journal also spoke to Keith Duffy and Shane Lynch ahead of the documentary’s launch.
Duffy said Curious Films and Sky have “done a fabulous job representing us and telling our story”.
“Our journey wasn’t ordinary, it wasn’t simple,” said Duffy.
“It gave us the opportunity to have a little step down memory lane and to remind ourselves of what we actually did back in the 90s, because it was so rushed at the time.
“It’s a hard watch at times for us, but it’s a good representative of who we are.”
Duffy added that Gately’s story is “portrayed very accurately and respectful to Stephen”.
“When we are together, we do feel that he’s with us,” Duffy told The Journal.
“That’s why the documentary was therapeutic, it was like a counselling session, and it brought him well back into our lives again through the making of the documentary.”
Elsewhere, Lynch spoke of the special relationship he has with Duffy.
“It wasn’t an immediate friendship,” said Lynch.
“He was very different from me. Duffy was always shy but he was beautiful.
“He floated down the street, this guy did, he was that gorgeous.
“But I was a motorbike riding fella, just mad on bikes and engines and stuff.
“So we were not chalk and cheese as such, but we were definitely opposites in life.
“So to be in a band together, it took us a while to understand each other and each other’s behaviour.
“Even up until later in life, I think we’ve only really become great friends in the last seven to 10 years.”
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