Ronan Keating was left thrown back in time when he learned about Australian actress Rebel Wilson’s dealing with an Australian newspaper.
The Pitch Perfect star announced earlier this month that she had found her “Disney Princess” as she shared a picture of her new girlfriend.
An Australian publication then published a piece in which they hit out at Rebel after they explained that had known about the relationship before her Instagram post.
A day before she went public with her relationship, they gave the actress two days to comment which led to her announcing the news herself.
View this post on Instagram
Now Ronan has admitted that the situation has reminded him of his fellow bandmate and friend, the late Stephen Gately’s experience.
In 1999, it was alleged that a tabloid had a story about Stephen Gately’s sexuality that was about to break.
It was reported that a newspaper had threatened to break the story, so Gately was pressured into making the announcement himself.
Reading the news about @RebelWilson and her horrible dealings with an Australian paper reminds me exactly of the situation with our Steo and the sun newspaper in the UK. How can this be possible today ? Rebel I hope you are ok and you have the strength and love to rise above. X
— Ronan Keating (@ronanofficial) June 11, 2022
Ronan wrote, “Reading the news about @RebelWilson and her horrible dealings with an Australian paper reminds me exactly of the situation with our Steo.
“How can this be possible today? Rebel I hope you are ok and you have the strength and love to rise above. X”
In 2018, almost a decade after Stephen’s death, the band spoke to Attitude magazine about his coming out to the public, saying, “At the height of our fame, Steo would often be worried on a Saturday night about what stories might run about him in the following day’s papers.
“We were on tour in Europe when he found out that a newspaper was planning to out him.
“He made a deal so he could tell the story himself, but we were so angry because the press basically forced him to do it. What other choice did he have?”
They continued, “He was scared because he had to take a leap into the unknown, and he was most worried about the Boyzone fans and how they’d react.
“He was the cute little one in Boyzone who all the girls fancied, and all of a sudden he was gay. He was so stressed and worried, and what it did to him was terrible.”
Stephen tragically passed away on 10th October 2009 of an undetected heart condition at the age of 33.
