Latest news with #AnthonyKavanagh
Daily Mail
25-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Kavana reflects on his secret struggle to hide his sexuality and alcoholism battle in bombshell new interview on The Life of Bryony podcast
Kavana has spilled the beans on his extraordinary life, including his struggle to hide his sexuality, in a bombshell new interview amid the release of his explosive autobiography. 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'.
The Guardian
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘I needed to be locked up': how Kavana went from 90s pop stardom to smoking crack in a skip
Nobody could say that Anthony Kavanagh does not know how to laugh at himself. The day he was fired from his record label, he trudged across London in the rain, walking and walking, as the realisation sank in that he was no longer a pop star. Soaked, he went into a pub and the woman behind the bar offered him a grubby tea towel to dry off. Washed-up indeed, he thought. His memoir, Pop Scars, is sprinkled with darkly comic takes on what his life had become after 90s pop stardom. Known as Kavana, he had a Top 10 hit in 1997 with his cover of Shalamar's I Can Make You Feel Good. 'I've always somehow been able to find the humour, even at some of the darker times,' he says. And there were dark times. Making a joke about a Neil Sedaka song ('Oh, Carol. Oh fuck, more like') to describe the reality of waking up in a stranger's apartment; fragments of a memory of driving down Sunset Strip with Sedaka on the car stereo; the realisation he had been paid for the sex he couldn't remember. Smoking crack in a skip in Hackney with a homeless woman he had just met, and whom he trusts with his bank card to go and score more drugs ('Note to self,' he writes, 'never give a stranger your pin code when high'). There are funnier, less serious incidents – he earned a lifetime ban, he says, from the daytime TV show Loose Women after slurring his way through it and being 'unhinged' backstage – but in general, it's a fairly bleak account of addiction, pain and what happens when the pop machine spits you out. He is very hard on himself, I say, when we meet in the offices of his publisher (at 47, he retains the boyish looks that made him a teen favourite). 'Well, I had that narrative for a long time. I think when you have a lot of rejection …' He pauses. As an alcoholic in recovery, and three years sober, he is kinder to himself now. 'But looking back, that's definitely how I felt.' Writing the book has helped. 'It's given me some self-esteem which is, I think, what I've been lacking for a long time.' He worried he wasn't a big enough name to be interesting to anyone now, until he started to view the book as a memoir of addiction, 'and that includes the fame part, because really I was only chasing a feeling. Approval, basically.' And what happens after fame disappears. 'I have a bit of empathy for the young me, because although I was driven and ambitious and smart, I was also very naive.' Growing up in Manchester in the 1980s, born to parents who already had a 20-year-old daughter, Kavanagh wanted nothing more than to be a pop star. Smash Hits magazine was his bible – every fortnight, he'd bring it home from the shop, 'take it in my bedroom and go through the pages. It was just an escape into this fantasy world.' Bullied, and with the dawning realisation he was gay, he found school an ordeal, but he also had an iron belief that he would be a famous pop star one day. Where did that come from? 'Delusion?' he says with a laugh. 'Maybe wanting to escape. I just had a feeling, and I would go around telling everyone that it was a given – I was going to be on Top of the Pops.' When he became successful – Top 10 singles in the UK, adored in Asia – the picture he gives is of an excited and confused teenager in a bewildering world. It would have been easier, he thinks, if he'd been in a boyband, because at least there would be backup. He had body image issues: he had been overweight as a young teenager, and people around him still commented that he was 'chubby'. 'I used to get a bit fearful sometimes in the photoshoots.' Mostly he was afraid of being outed, when his success with his teenage girl fans depended on him being a 'straight' pop star. 'There was fear in general, regardless of being a pop star. I hadn't told my parents. I didn't tell my sister till I was 18. It was a different age then.' Sometimes, on tour with other artists, he would share a passing glance with another man and wonder if they were interested. 'You'd have a little feeling, but I dared not say to you, in case you then tell somebody else.' On one tour, he and Stephen Gateley, from the boyband Boyzone, spent the night together. Keeping his sexuality hidden must have been incredibly difficult. 'It was, 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, and I must be grateful. I put everything into the ambition.' It's strange, Kavanagh says, to be doing interviews again at a time where he doesn't have to hide his sexuality, and there is more understanding of the pressures on young pop stars and power dynamics in relationships. 'We didn't talk about mental health. Today you hear they give artists aftercare or therapy, but there wasn't any of that then. I suppose I didn't have the knowledge to ask, either. What would I have asked for? We didn't use those words back then. And when it's so fast, fast, fast, and there's a lot of 'yes' people, and you're told how fantastic you are, that's enough sometimes to make you feel OK.' It made it harder, he says, when only a few months later, the fame bubble popped. 'Especially if it becomes your identity,' he adds. Even when he was successful, he says, 'I was never satisfied. I won a Smash Hits award – like, that was the holy grail to me. It doesn't get much better than that. But then, I think maybe the addiction side, you want something else. I kept wanting more and more. At 21, I decide I'm going to go and live in America, I'm going to make it there.' He laughs at himself – the young man who had just been dropped by his record label, and who genuinely believed he could move to Hollywood and pick up an Oscar. 'It's like, OK, that's a normal thing to do.' It actually started well: he got an agent, and a small part in a soap within the first week, but only for a couple of episodes. He was trying to release his own music, become a songwriter, go to auditions, but mostly he was lonely, burning through his money and drinking more and more. Sometimes drugs, too, including crystal meth. But, he says, 'Alcohol was the start and the end. I would never have taken drugs without alcohol. But yeah, I was like a loose cannon for some of those times, got myself into some situations.' Such as waking up in a stranger's flat, realising he had been paid for sex. Kavanagh ended up living in a motel, then eventually returned home after seven years – in 2006 – penniless. It meant losing his parents' home, which he had been paying the mortgage on. 'That comes with a whole load of guilt, because I'm moving two elderly parents, they've lost this house. So that's more reason to drink.' His years out of the UK meant everyone had forgotten about him. He looked around at the people who had grown up with him – former pop stars and actors such as Ant and Dec, and Billie Piper – who had successfully reinvented themselves, and felt as if he'd made a mistake. 'So then there's shame and regret with that.' He smiles. 'There was no jungle [the I'm a Celebrity … reality show] in them days to go on when your pop career is washed up. When I disappeared … 'I'll make it in Hollywood!'' He tried to stage a comeback, releasing a 'best of' album and appearing on reality shows including Celebrity Big Brother and Grease Is the Word, but he sabotaged many opportunities by being drunk. He started hanging around with the singer Amy Winehouse, who had her own alcohol addiction, and crashing at the flats of his few remaining loyal fans, drinking more. Signing on at the jobcentre back in Manchester, he was scared of being recognised – people had started, dishearteningly, to ask him: 'Didn't you used to be Kavana?' 'I was so wrapped up in my own shame,' he says. 'I was having to drink.' And alcohol worked for him, he says, 'for a long time. I'm not sitting here saying: 'Oh, it was tragic, it was awful.' Alcohol got me through my father's death. It kind of got me through my sister's death [from cancer in 2019]. It got me through feeling nervous, it got me through going on stage, homesickness. But I didn't realise what it was doing to me.' By the time he was essentially homeless, living secretly with his mother in her sheltered housing flat, Kavanagh was deep in addiction. He applied for a place at rehab mainly, he says, to have somewhere to live, and was sober for six months before spectacularly relapsing on a songwriting retreat, and drinking neat vodka in a phone box. In London, he would go through a cycle of attending AA meetings, then drinking again. By the time he was buying three-litre bottles of cheap cider to drink in the mornings (along with tins of cat food, to create, he thought, an air of respectability), he knew he was in trouble. 'Alcohol became as important to me as oxygen to survive,' he says. 'That sounds quite melodramatic to somebody that has never experienced that, but I knew the game was up. I wanted to stop, but I physically couldn't.' He would often spend the rest of the day at a Costa coffee shop, pretending to work on his phone and sipping wine from a paper cup. One day, an email from a lawyer came through. A newspaper had agreed to settle a defamation case he'd long forgotten about from the 90s, and the sum was more than he had seen in a decade. 'I'm drinking wine out of the coffee cup, and just that divine timing,' he says. He called his AA sponsor, and asked for help to find a private rehab clinic. 'At that point I needed to be locked up,' he says. A friend drove him there, and Kavanagh remembers the friend telling staff he thought alcohol had caused him brain damage. 'To think that I'd got myself in that state.' Kavanagh thought alcohol would kill him. 'I've seen it happen to others, and I think it scared me that last time in rehab.' For whatever reason, rehab worked, and Kavanagh has been sober for three and a half years. He wakes up, 'and I pray to a god that I don't understand, and just say, 'You drive today.' I go to meetings, I try to be of service. Anything that takes me out of thinking and negotiating things in my head, I've learned, is what helps. Connecting with others.' Kavanagh wrote his book during the first year of sobriety. 'I've got access to this new life now, but I just have to remember that that's where it took me last time.' He is proud to call himself an author, and might make some music again at some point. He'd quite like to do a one-man show. Does he still crave approval and recognition? 'I'd be lying if I said I didn't crave approval. I'm not sure about being hugely famous, because I know how fleeting it can be, but there's definitely something to be said about putting something you've done out and getting positive feedback. Or people connecting to me.' Pop Scars by Anthony Kavanagh is published on 17 July by Bonnier (£22). To support the Guardian, buy a copy at Delivery charges may apply
Daily Mail
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Legendary 90s pop star who had a 'crippling alcohol addiction' warns celebs to be 'very afraid' over upcoming tell-all book
Nineties pop sensation Anthony Kavanagh is set to lift the lid on the darker side of stardom with his explosive new autobiography, Pop Scars - and he's warned the industry to brace itself. The singer, 47, who rose to fame under the name Kavana with hits like I Can Make You Feel Good and Crazy Chance, has hinted that no one is safe from the revelations in his upcoming book. Known for his boy-next-door image in the teen pop heyday, Anthony has since opened up about his struggles with addiction, revealing the personal cost of fame after finding success at just 16 years old. As the release of his tell-all book looms, some of his friends and acquaintances in the industry could be in for a shock. Back in 2017, the singer promised that he'd write a revealing memoir about his time in the music industry. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. He told Attitude magazine: 'I am very excited about it. It's more of a memoir, I'll save the autobiography for when I'm older. 'It'll be warts [and all] and recalls what was happening back in the pop industry back in the 90s and when I went to live in Hollywood. 'There are some really outrageous stories that most people wouldn't know about. Yes, people should be afraid…very afraid.' And the former pop idol appears to be relishing the build-up as he took to his Instagram page on May 14 to tease fans with a glimpse of what's to come. He posted a snap of the cover of his book, featuring a imagine of the star at the height of his success. Anthony penned: 'Can't believe I'm saying this but I actually wrote a book. Like by myself, like those grown ups do. POP SCARS covers all things 90s pop but more importantly what happens AFTER fame.' The star continued: 'It's about teenage fame, loss, addiction and hope, and how not to iron a white Kappa tracksuit. 'It's been described as 'Laugh out loud, jaw dropping, and heartfelt' but you can decide that. The former pop idol appears to be relishing the build-up as he took to his Instagram page on May 14 to tease fans with a glimpse of what's to come in 'Come join the ride with me. More news to come. This is for the underdog.' After his pop career wrapped up, Anthony kept busy in the public eye, starring in Hollyoaks: In The City in 2006 and later competing as a finalist on the TV show Greece Is the Word in 2007. He also took part in Celebrity Big Brother in 2017, where he finished seventh. As for his personal life, Anthony shocked fans as he shared a swollen photo of himself at the peak of his alcohol addiction. The star has been sober for nearly three years and has been incredibly open about his struggles with addiction and his journey to recovery. And the artist admitted he was 'lost, broken and hopeless' during his crippling addiction. He wrote: 'On #addictionawarenessweek I want to make anyone struggling aware that recovery is possible. 20 months ago I was lost, broken and hopeless. 'Ask for help, I'm so glad I did. #Wedorecover #Noshame #addiction #youcandoit'. The singer documented his 2022 entry into rehab after sadly relapsing a year earlier. In February 2022, he took to Twitter to apologise to his family for not being 'truthful' as he admitted that alcoholism had 'got a grip on him' in an emotional post. The singer spoke of his 'mental struggles', before signing off social media for the foreseeable future. The statement read: 'Today I go into rehab. Again. This illness of Alcoholism has got its grip. I'll be off social media for a while. 'To what family I have left, I'm sorry I wasn't truthful I've been going through a lot of mental struggles. Good news I'm going to get the help I need. 'My phone will be off for a while. Clint, Aunty Angela, Aunty Maria, Brad, I'm going to be OK and I love you all madly x.'
Daily Mirror
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
90s pop star 'broken by addiction' warns celebs to be 'very afraid' over exposé
Former 90s pop star and Celebrity Big Brother contestant Kavana has been very candid about his addiction battles, but now he's promised to be honest over his heyday experiences too Nineties pop sensation Anthony Kavanagh warned celebs to be 'very afraid' over his upcoming autobiography. The now-47 year old singer who had a string of hits including I Can Make You Feel Good, Crazy Chance and MFEO using the stage name Kavana, made the threat prior to the release of his explosive memoir, Pop Scars, which he's promising will tell all about his experience with fame. The singer has been candid about his battles with addiction since hitting the spotlight as a fresh-faced 20 year old nearly three decades ago, when he graced the covers of teen pop magazines including Smash Hits. Last year, he candidly shared on Instagram a before-and-after photo that illustrated his journey from a dark place last year to a successful recovery, along with an encouraging caption for his fans: "Recovery is possible." He spoke about how vastly different he looked compared to one and a half years previously, when he was at a low ebb, and explained how he'd taken steps to get help. Leaving a powerful comment with his images, he said: "On #addictionawarenessweek I want to make anyone struggling aware that recovery is possible. 20 months ago I was lost, broken and hopeless. Ask for help, I'm so glad I did." Celebrity pals rallied around with messages of encouragement, including former Bad Boys Inc singer Matthew Pateman who declared, "Proud of you," while Steps' H Watkins chimed in with a heartfelt, "Proud friend," and 911's Lee Brennan added: "Superstar." But with the release of the book , some of his friends and acquaintances in the industry could be in for a shock. Back in 2017, Anthony spoke to Attitude magazine and promised that he'd write a revealing memoir about his time in the music industry, to lift the lid on the wild goings on of the seemingly-innocent 90s pop scene. He told the publication: "I am very excited about it. It's more of a memoir, I'll save the autobiography for when I'm older. It'll be warts [and all] and recalls what was happening back in the pop industry back in the 90s and when I went to live in Hollywood. There are some really outrageous stories that most people wouldn't know about. Yes, people should be afraid…very afraid." And it seems the former idol is excited about what's to come, as he recently promoted the book on his Instagram page. Alongside a shot of its cover, featuring an image of Kavana at the height of his success, he said: "Can't believe I'm saying this but I actually wrote a book. Like by myself, like those grown ups do. POP SCARS covers all things 90s pop but more importantly what happens AFTER fame." And he continued: "It's about teenage fame, loss, addiction and hope, and how not to iron a white Kappa tracksuit. It's been described as 'Laugh out loud, jaw dropping, and heartfelt' but you can decide that. Come join the ride with me. More news to come. This is for the underdog." After his pop career ended, Anthony stayed in the spotlight, going on to star in Hollyoaks: In The City in 2006, before becoming a finalist on the TV competition Grease Is the Word in 2007, auditioning for The Voice on ITV and finishing seventh on Celebrity Big Brother in 2015. He later revealed a 12-month stalking hell. He also came out as gay in 2014, revealing a past secret romance with Stephen Gately from Boyzone. But his addiction battle followed, with Anthony previously confessing he felt "guilty and sick" for relapsing, saying: "Ok. I think it's important for me to be transparent about my recovery. I relapsed after 100 days of sobriety. I feel guilty and sick and I hate myself after letting the people I love down. I thought I knew better. I have to start again."
