Louis Walsh has spoken out about the false allegations made about him in 2011.
The claims, relating to an alleged incident in a Dublin nightclub, were made against him by Leonard Watters, who was later jailed for wrongly accusing the X Factor judge.
Louis was later awarded €500,000 in damages from a tabloid newspaper, but he has now revealed that it was a very dark time for him
“I had problems because… I thought I was finished in the business,” Louis told The Irish Independent.
“Especially dealing with boy-bands and girl-bands and all that; and people are going to think that there’s something not right here.
That’s being honest with you. Luckily I was innocent and I won the case.”
“You start thinking, ‘Oh people are going to think: ‘There’s no smoke without fire’. My friends rallied around.
“Gavin Bonnar said to me, ‘C’mon, fight this’. Everybody told me not to fight, that I would never win. Everybody told me that.”
“I said, I have to. And luckily I did. And Gavin made me do it. And that was the best thing I’ve ever done.
“They sat me down and convinced me that I could win by telling the truth.”
Louis has been back judging on the X Factor, and will now be taking a seat on the judging panel for Ireland’s Got Talent in the new year.
