Brian McFadden's stripper fling that tore 'sham' Kerry Katona marriage apart
He was Westlife's cheeky chappie, she was the feisty frontwoman of Atomic Kitten and together Brian McFadden and Kerry Katona seemed like a match made in pop heaven.
It was on the Smash Hits tour in 1999 that sparks first flew between the couple, who went on to marry in a grand ceremony at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Rathfeigh, Ireland, with a 250-strong star-studded reception at Slane Castle.
But behind the £6,500 worth of lilies and glitzy bash which was said to have cost £100,000 in total - according to Brian, he'd already realised it wasn't meant to be.
Admitting he'd not 'stopped to think' if the marriage was a good idea, Brian - who has formed the group Boyzlife with Boyzone member Keith Duffy - blamed his inexperience for the mess that followed.
Kerry Katona and ex-husband Brian McFadden in their younger days (Getty)
Kerry and Brian has their own successful pop careers (Getty Images)"I was very young when I met her and no one ever loved me before," said Brian, who was just 19 when he joined Westlife and had only kissed one person before Kerry.
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Talking to the Independent in 2007, he continued: "So when Kerry came along and wanted me, that gap was filled and I felt good simply because I had someone to share everything with.
"I never stopped to think, 'You really should get to know this person before you have kids, think of marrying or settle down.'
"So then, when we had the first baby, bought a house, spent time together and Westlife became the same thing over and over, I woke up one morning and realised, 'This is not what I want to do with my life, I don't see myself being with this woman in 20 years, she's not who I'm meant to be with, we don't have anything in common.'"
The former couple - who have daughters Molly, 21, and Lilly-Sue, 19 - split in 2004 when Brian came clean and admitted he didn't love Kerry anymore in a tense phone call.
Brian and Kerry tied the knot in 2002 but things didn't work out and they split in 2006 (Getty)He has always claimed their decision to split was mutual, but she has insisted she begged him to stay.
However, it turned out the writing was actually on the wall weeks before they even tied the knot when Brian cheated with a lap dancer on his stag do in 2001.
Brian even went as far as to imply that their whole marriage had been a sham.
"It wasn't a real wedding. We were getting married to have a big party and get loads of money for it – and to appear showbiz," he told Reveal magazine.
"The day my marriage ended was on the stag night. That was the time I felt 'this is not supposed to be.'"
Kerry with eldest daughters Lilly-Sue and Molly, who she shares with Brian McFadden (AMP/FameFlynet.uk.com)The nasty saga saw Brian pay a substantial settlement to lap dancer Amy Barker after he denied they romped shortly before his wedding to Kerry.
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He was also forced to make a groveling apology and withdraw his accusations.
Adult entertainer Amy, from West Yorkshire, was one of two lap dancers hired to entertain Brian and his stags on a coach trip during the raucous weekend.
She claimed she had sex with Brian, but he initially denied it, insisting in an article with heat magazine that: "If it were true, the Westlife boys would never speak to me again."
However, he eventually backtracked, with an apology from both Brian and the magazine reading: "In that interview, both Mr McFadden and ourselves implicitly accused Ms Amy Barker of lying, when she previously claimed in an article published in the Sunday People to have had a sexual encounter with Bryan on the occasion of his stag night three years ago.
Brian felt that his marriage to Kerry wasn't the real deal (Getty Images)
Kerry and Brian tied the knot at a lavish wedding ceremony (Getty Images)"We and Mr McFadden accept that a sexual encounter did take place... and it was not our intention to accuse Ms Barker of lying."
For Kerry - who said she was very much in love - the news was devastating. Especially as she reportedly found out by reading it in a newspaper six months after the fact while Brian was away on tour.
"That killed it for me. I loved Brian and I trusted him. I remember thinking: 'But he's the fat one from Westlife. Why would he do this to me?'" she reportedly told the now-defunct News of the World.
After their split, Brian moved on with Australian singer Delta Goodrem after they joined forces for his solo single, Almost Here.
Kerry later quipped that she could have steered fate another way had she accepted Brian's invitation to join them in the recording studio instead of choosing to appear on Loose Women.
Kerry and Brian divorced after just two years"I was Kerry McFadden married to Brian when I first appeared on Loose Women aged 22," she told the ITV show in 2017.
"It was always my Brian this and that, and then one day Brian said to me: 'I’m recording a new single with someone called Deltra Goodrem- come with me,' and I was like 'I can't come I’m on Loose Women.' Imagine if I didn't I'd still be married..."
However, she admitted that Delta wasn't the issue, adding: "If someone falls out of love with you there’s nothing you can do."
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