Boyband heartthrob Duncan James has recalled the moment that the late Stephen Gately told him he knew he was gay.
The Blue singer was terrified for years that fans would discover that he was gay.
But he said late Boyzone singer Stephen – who tragically died in October 2009 - knew the UK star was gay – and begged him to embrace his sexuality.
Speaking on the Strawberry Alarmclock on Dublin’s FM104, Duncan revealed: “Is so liberating to be able to perform now to be my authentic self.
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“It took me a long time to find the courage. I was just really scared. I remember talking to Stephen Gately, God rest his soul when we were doing Dancing on Ice together and he just came out from a newspaper, and I knew I had this secret inside me and I was so frightened that it was going to be me next.
“And I remember talking to Stephen and he said to me ‘you’re like me, aren’t you?’ and I remember looking at him thinking ‘oh my god, does he know? How does he know?’
“He was like listen, just embrace it, be you and it is the best thing that happened for me and just don’t be scared to be scared to be you. I remember him saying those words to me.”
Duncan said that while he never confirmed to Gately he was gay, he said he was “terrified” people knew his secret.
“And I kind of gave him a hug. I never really confirmed anything. I just gave him a hug and obviously inside I was absolutely terrified that somebody knew.
“It was a really lovely moment we had together, and he knew… he knew.”
Duncan previously revealed that when he first saw the reaction to when Stephen revealed he was gay, it “scared the sh*t” out of him.
In 1999, Gately confirmed himself that he was gay after he heard somebody was trying to out him to a newspaper.
He said back in 2019: “I remember the story when Stephen Gately came out and it just scared me because I knew I was in a boyband and I was holding a secret as well and I saw that story about Stephen and it was just, I mean it absolutely scared the s*** out of me thinking, 'Oh my God I don't want to be outed. I don't want it to come out that way'.
“It got to the point in my own career where I felt that I needed to do something about it and I was so scared that that was going to happen, so I just took the bull by the horns and came out myself and did a story myself, in my own words.
“I thought, 'Do you know what? I'm just going to brave it and do it,' and I was so scared!
“But it was the best thing I ever did actually and I'm so happy that I did that and now I don't really think it’s a big deal. People don't really care, and newspapers don't run stories like that anymore, thank God.”
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