Former Boyzone manager Louis Walsh has admitted to making up stories about the band to the press to gain more attention.
The former X Factor judge made this admission in the new trailer for the documentary, Boyzone: No Matter What. Walsh had originally formed the band in 1993, which included Ronan Keating, Mikey Graham, Shane Lynch, Keith Duffy and the late Stephen Gately.
In a clip taken from the show, Walsh has been described as "the master puppeteer of the press", before going on to admit that he would say whatever to gain media coverage from the band.
“sometimes, the boys would read stories in the papers about themselves that weren’t true and they’d say ‘who told them that?’. I did! I told them”, Walsh said.
Ronan Keating elaborated on this: “He believed any story was a good story. He would make up stories constantly about the band, about relationships with girlfriends that were non-existent".
In one case, Louis Walsh fabricated a story that the band were in a plane crash in Australia.
“I had them in a plane crash once in Australia and I forgot to tell the families I made it up", Walsh said, before joking: “There was no plane crash, but it got a good story”.
He added: “I never felt guilty about it. No way, I was promoting them. I was doing my job. But I would do it all again, yeah. Absolutely. I’d do it even more now”.
However, Ronan Keating did admit that this attention took its toll on the band.
“It scarred us, it was hugely scarring. What the media did to us all” he explained.
Louis Walsh managed the band from 1993, until their split in 2000, before going on to oversee Ronan Keating's solo career. The band eventually reformed in 2007 with Walsh as manager.
They eventually cut all ties 2018.
Louis Walsh has had several high profile rows with artists, including Jedward who referred to him as "vile" in a series of rant-filled tweets. Find out more here.
