We heard yea, how are you coping?
It's hard. Luckily it was a decision we both made and we can remain friends. I still love Kerry, which is what's making me so sad.

Will you two ever be able to patch things up again?
No, I don't think so. We're both experiencing the heartache but it's just not working for us anymore.We argued so much lately about this and that, well, then it just doesn't work anymore.

Do you still talk to her often?
Every day. Every evening I phone home, also to tell my little girls I love them. I miss them so much. Which is also why Kerry and I are trying to get through the divorce as smoothly as possible. We don't want the kids to become victims of our problems.

Alright let's move on to a happier subject..
Yes please! Did you know my first solo single 'Real To Me' is doing great?

That's exactly what we wanted to talk about. In the UK and Ireland you went straight to number 1!
I really didn't expect that, it's like a dream. My solo career couldn't have kicked off any better.

After the split with Westlife, did you get into working straight away?
Yes, but not for me. For the first month I've been writing and producing for others. When I got sick of that, I started for myself and six months later my first single was released.

Exciting!
Totally! I'm curious as to how it will go down in here in Holland. In the UK and Ireland I can still benefit from my succes in Westlife but here I can't. Westlife isn't that big in Holland anymore so yes, it's exciting!

Do you feel a lot of pressure on your shoulders?
Not at all. I've had so much succes in Westlife, anything that comes my way now is a bonus. That's how I see it. Even if my solo career failes, I'm still a succesfull artist. No-one takes my time in the band away from me.

You're kinda dissin' the music industrie in 'Real To Me'. Where's all this frustration coming from?
My time in Westlife. When our record company made the decisions for me. Which song I sang, how I looked, what interviews I did and where I performed. I find that fake.

Then why get back into the business?
Because you can do it different. My new record company let's me make my own decisions. I'm finally in charge of my own life and man it feels so good!

What can we expect from your new album?
NO ballads! I refuse to sing those again hahaha! The music is different from what I did in Westlife, it's much more personal. Because I wrote the songs myself, you can see each song as a chapter from my life.

If you don't sing ballads anymore, what are your songs about then?
Pfff, a bit of everything. Home violence, the church, anything really. Just my duet with Delta Goodrem is a ballad but I get dumped in it so it's still different.

Did you ever regret your decision to quit Westlife?
Not for one second. But it wasn't a spontaneous decision, it'd been in my head for a while. I was very relieved when the press conference ended, like a weight fell off my shoulders.

Do you miss the lads?
I do yeah. We had a lot of fun together and I miss that. But that's about all, I wouldn't want to go back ever.

You lost a lot of weight, how did you do that?
I started a diet last Christmas. My target was just to lose a few kilos but they became twenty in the end. I take the Atkins diet in which you can't eat carbohydrates. Once you're used to not eating patatoes, rice and pasta anymore, it's kinda easy.

Do you feel better now that you're slimmer?
Yes I'm very satisfied with myself. And I'm noticing that people are threating me different. The English newspapers are suddenly a lot nicer to me. I find that highly suspicious hahaha!

How about your hair style? Did you want to get rid of the boyband look aswell?
That's got nothing to do with it. When I quit the band, I could finally be careless about my looks. So I let my hair grow and got a beard! Then when I first appeared on telly, I wanted to go to a hairdresser and have my beard shaved off. However, the stylist of that particular TV show suggested I'd keep the beard. I must say I liked that idea.

Any other changes?
I quit drinking. Good thing too because I drank way too much! It got to a point where I needed to get help to lay of the drinking. That's when I've been sober for three months untill at one night I opened the bottle again. Now I haven't been drinking for two months and I don't intend on getting started again ever.

Goodie two shoes!
Well, I prefer being a goodie two shoes over being an alcoholic!