New Kids on the Block star Jonathan Knight let fans ‘kidnap' him on tour
Being on the road 360 days a year took its toll on New Kids on the Block star Jonathan Knight — so while he was on tour, he would ask fans to take him away from all the madness.
'Back in the day, I used to let fans kidnap me. I would always find somebody who was a little older who had a driver's license. You're walking through the venue or they're outside a fence and you're like, 'Hey, what are you doing? You want to take me somewhere?'' he told The Post.
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'I would jump in their car and we'd disappear. My manager used to get so mad because he was always afraid that I wouldn't get back in time.'
Knight, 56, a Boston native, said he 'needed some self care to just deal' with NKOTB's tour schedule at the height of their fame in the '80s and '90s.
4 Jonathan Knight was 16 when he joined New Kids on the Block.
Alamy Stock Photo
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'It was nuts. Our manager and our record company, they just pushed you. Being a young kid just not even really knowing who you are as a person, we really had no time outside of our career to figure out what life is all about. And I think that that's sad,' he said.
The beloved boy band formed in 1984 and achieved superstar status in 1988 with the release of their second album 'Hangin' Tough' — and to date, have sold over 80 million records worldwide.
'You're not prepared for the level of success we had, ever. There's nobody there to coach you. It's either sink or swim and you could just become really f–ked up and do stupid things … or you could just deal with the stress and the craziness and get through,' he said.
4 New Kids on the Block formed in 1984, split in 1994 and then reunited in 2008.
Courtesy Everett Collection
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In 2000, Knight revealed he suffered from generalized anxiety, and in 2011, he came out as gay — both of which he kept hidden during the band's first run, from 1984 to 1994.
Although it would have been easier to open up about those topics now, he still doesn't wish he was a young performer in today's world.
'That's probably the only two things that would be cool, but I actually wouldn't want to be an artist nowadays,' he said.
'When we would go out to a nightclub and stumble out maybe a little tipsy or drunk, there was no TMZ or people filming and it just gets broadcast for millions of people to see.'
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Knight, the oldest of his bandmates — who include his brother Jordan, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg and Danny Wood — was the first to leave the group in 1994 when he was 25, before they officially split that same year.
'I remember going home and I was in a eight bedroom, six bathroom house that I bought and looking up and down the halls like, 'Okay, now what the hell?''
4 NKOTB will kick off their The Right Stuff Las Vegas Residency in June.
Austin Hargrave
The guys reunited in 2008 after a 14-year hiatus and 'it's funny that we've been back together now longer than we were in the first go-around,' Knight noted.
As he preps for NKOTB's The Right Stuff Las Vegas Residency, which starts on June 20, Knight looked back on the band's heyday — and all the memorabilia created for them.
'There was so much cheesy stuff … slippers and marbles and puzzles. In the moment, we were like, 'This is so stupid.' But now that I'm older, I'm like, 'It's kind of cool. There's my face on a pack of bubblegum.''
4 Jonathan and Jordan's mom Marlene had an eBay sale of the band's memorabilia she collected.
Alamy Stock Photo
His mother, Marlene, collected double the amount of New Kids items since two of her sons are in the group.
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'She had so much stuff in her basement and a couple of years ago, I was like, 'Mom, just get rid of it, it's taking up too much space.' So she had a big eBay sale.'
He has no idea how much she earned from it — he's just content the clutter has dissipated.
'I didn't ask. I was just happy that now when I go in her basement, I can walk around and not have to scoot by a Donnie doll or trip over a Joe doll.'
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