EXCLUSIVE Kavana reflects on his secret struggle to hide his sexuality and alcoholism battle in bombshell new interview on The Life of Bryony podcast
90s popstar Anthony Kavanagh, 47, who rose to fame under the name Kavana, has lifted the lid on the darker side of stardom with his tell-all memoir, Pop Scars.
And while his book contains some sensational tales of his days in the limelight, Kavana still had plenty of juicy gossip to share with Bryony Gordon on a new episode of The Life of Bryony podcast.
The sensational chat sees the I Can Make You Feel Good hitmaker open up on leaving a bevvy of 'beautiful girls' who were waiting for him in a lobby miffed because he 'couldn't have sex with them' amid his secret battle to keep his true sexuality under wraps.
In the interview, he explains: 'They'd get funny with me, some of the fans, some of the girl fans, 'cause they didn't understand why I wasn't taking it to the next step', noting how he'd often have to turn down his tour manager's offer to set him up with women.
Meanwhile, the sizzling podcast chat hears of the moment Kavana recalls sharing a kiss with a much older manager who discovered him in a gay club as a teenager.
Kavana shares: 'There was a kiss... he didn't know my age at the time... But it was complex. And I think there was some arrested development that went on for sure. And I had feelings for this person because suddenly something opened in me where I was attracted to a man who had power.'
In other tantalising moments from the interview, the singer reflects on having 'flirty feelings' for the late Stephen Gately but says their relationship was innocent and 'wasn't the love affair of the century'.
While he also touches upon his alcoholism being so bad that he resorted to drinking aftershave.
It comes after Kavana revealed that he was once paid for drug-fuelled sex after having an 'exhausting' battle to hide his sexuality during his pop career.
He found success at the age of just 16 years old with a series of hit singles such as I Can Make You Feel Good and Special Kind of Something in the late 1990s.
But he has now revealed the personal cost of fame after he battled both alcohol and drug addiction which ended up leaving him homeless and admitted he 'needed to be locked up'.
Manchester-born Kavana was signed to a record label in his teens and soon found himself partying with pop stars and touring with Boyzone.
However with a young female fanbase, the heartthrob was 'afraid' of having his sexuality outed as his fame deepened on him being 'straight' for his young teenage girl fans.
In other tantalising moments from the interview, the singer reflects on having 'flirty feelings' for the late Stephen Gately but says their relationship was innocent and 'wasn't the love affair of the century' [Stephen pictured in April 2009]
While on one tour, Kavana had a secret relationship with Boyzone's Stephen Gately, who tragically died of an undiagnosed heart condition in 2009.
Discussing hiding his sexuality, he told The Guardian: 'It was difficult and that's where alcohol came in as a comfort.
'It's crazy when I look back now, the time that we were in. It was a constant act and it was exhausting but you just got on with it because I was so lucky for this to happen to me'.
Soon after touring, Kavana was dropped from his record label and his fame bubble popped causing him to turn to booze even more.
The 90s star decided to move to the States to see if he could break America but jobs soon dried up and admitted he hit rock bottom after becoming lonely and turned to alcohol and crystal meth.
Kavana said he became a 'loose cannon and got myself into situations' including waking up in a stranger's flat realising he had been paid for sex.
In the memoir, Kavana described the reality of waking up in a stranger's apartment and the realisation he had been paid for the sex he couldn't remember.
He also revealed that he had smoked crack in a skip in Hackney with a homeless woman he had just met and whom he trusts with his bank card to score more drugs - before adding that 'you should never give a stranger your pin code while high'.
He was forced to move home after seven years penniless and also lost his elderly parents' home, which he had been paying the mortgage on.
Kavana turned to drink once again as he saw the stars around him, including Ant and Dec and Billie Piper, reinventing themselves and become successful while he felt 'shame' and 'regret'.
The ex pop star started hanging out with Amy Winehouse, who also had her own alcohol addiction, before she died age 27 in 2011 from accidental alcohol poisoning.
Kavana's drink and drug problem drained his wallet and ultimately led to him 'secretly living in an old people's sheltered housing complex with his mother.'
After attempting to go to rehab and AA meetings, Kavana was forced to sign up to the job center in Manchester and was scared of being recognised as 'the washed up popstar' causing him to relapse.
However, following getting a large payout from a newspaper after they agreed to settle a defamation case he had long forgotten, Kavana went to a private rehab facility as he admitted 'I need to be locked up' as he thought alcohol was going to kill him.
He is now three and half years sober and wrote his new memoir Pop Scars during the first year of sobriety and is using that as a reminder of where alcohol took him.
Kavana noted to the publication how it is strange doing interviews again in a time where he can be open about his sexuality and mental health, 'we didn't talk about it back then'.
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