Former Westlife member Brian McFadden claimed that Louis Walsh ill-treated him when they worked together.
The Irish singer was a part of the boyband formed by music manager Louis Walsh in 1998. Although the band became a real chartbuster, Brian claims his journey to fame wasn’t without problems, especially with their manager.
The Pointless Celebrities guest star said he “hated” Louis, for allegedly “fat-shaming” him and creating an unpleasant working environment.
Brian was a part of Westlife until 2004 (Credit: Shutterstock)
Brian MacFadden ‘hated’ Louis Walsh
In the BBC docuseries Boyband Forever, Brian spoke about working with Louis when he was part of Westlife, which he quit in 2004.
While discussing the flipside to fame, he claimed that the former X Factor judge was allegedly mean to him and his former bandmates – Shane Filan, Nicky Byrne, Mark Feehily and Kian Egan.
He alleged that Louis “fat-shamed” him, and he was “just horrendous”. Brian said: “I hated Louis. Louis would walk into a room and go, ‘Hey everyone’, and then he’d look at me and go, ‘Brian’ (blowing his cheeks out). Basically saying that I’m fat.”
Despite accusations of creating a hostile work environment against Louis, Brian said “very few things that he touched didn’t turn to gold.”
Joining the popular boyband after working as a McDonald’s security guard was an “unrealistic dream” for Brian. However, he and his former bandmates were always made to prioritise their band over everything else.
“It was made very clear to us by the powers that be that our personal lives 100 percent came second to Westlife,” he said in the BBC docuseries.
He added: “We had times where we had relatives die and we couldn’t go to the funeral because there was a gig or an interview that day.”
Former Westlife members claim working with Louis was ‘difficult’ (Credit: Shutterstock)
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