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mark feehily
The Hurly Burly Show press night in London (2012)
MARK AT A PAVING CENTRE IN CO LONDONDERRY
[SEPTEMBER 2012]
Mark Feehily and Daniel Lismore
at the On/Off
CoolBrands Party at Scotch, London, Britain ?
13 September 2012
Westlife stars pay tribute to Andy Williams
Mark Feehily
from boyband Westlife said:"
RIP Andy Williams,
this song is so beautiful & I've been listening
to it regularly for the last few years,"
as he shared Williams' track 'Love Story,
Where Do I Begin'.
I still have panic attacks, reveals Westlife star Mark  Tuesday October 30 2012 FORMER Westlife star Mark Feehily has revealed how he is still haunted
by the bullying he suffered at school over his weight.
But the 31-year-old has
said that his later global success
with Westlife is proof
a bad childhood experience can be overcome.
Interviewed by clinical psychologist and
Irish Independent columnist
David Coleman for a new three-part RTE series
'Bullyproof', Feehily recounts
the long-term damage done by his tormenters.
"Some of the more intense moments are still with me,
very much,
in terms of the physical attacks and stuff like that.
"There were times at school
when I got attacked from behind or whatever
and there's times when
I'd be walking on the street to this day and I'll have
flashbacks and have
little moments of panic attacks," said Feehily.
The ex-boyband star believes
that his lack of self-confidence
as a teenager didn't help.
"If loads of people pick out things about you,
whether it's being chubby or whatever,
your own image of yourself becomes 'oh I'm just
the fat guy in the class' and nobody
wants to be the fat guy
in the class,
let's face it.
It just kind of eats away at you," said Feehily,
who has been working
on his own musical projects
as a songwriter and producer.
But pop stars can find themselves
bullied too as the singer,
who revealed he was gay in 2007,
went on to suffer years of abuse on Twitter.
He said: "I'm not talking about people
saying your music is crap.
"I'm talking about proper abuse.
I can't go into what they said but
some of the things that have been said to me on Twitter,
if someone walked up to me on the street
and said them to me . . . they would be in jail."
In the 'Bullyproof'
series, host Mr Coleman offers therapeutic
support to a number of teens and pre-teens,
and their families,
who have been affected by bullying --
either as a target or as a bully.
As part of the series,
Mr Coleman met youngsters who have
suffered at the hands of bullies
and begins the process of helping
them rebuild their shattered self-esteem.
He said one of the aims of
the series is to
enable people understand that bullying
does not have to be tolerated in silence.
Mr Coleman said: "If you
ignore bullying it doesn't go away."
He points out that bullying is not a form
of "toughening up" that children need to pass through
as some form of character development,
but rather it is an indication
that adults are not in charge.
WESTLIFE
superstar Mark Feehily last night became
the latest celebrity to back our
‘Delete Cyber Bullies’ campaign.
Singer Mark has admitted he was a victim of vicious
bullying in the past — and he
vowed to do what
he could to help kids who are tormented today.
Earlier this year,
Mark took part in an ISPCC campaign,
and posed for harrowing snaps
depicting his face badly bruised.
He told the Irish Sun: “It greatly upsets
me to think that there are children out
there who feel the only option left open
to them is to take their own life.”
Backing our campaign ... Mark Feehily
And he urged his fans to get behind
our campaign demanding
that Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald
enforces laws to tackle the problem.
He added: “Things need to change
and we won’t stop until they do, but in the meantime
I urge parents, teachers, schools, sports coaches,
the media and anyone with
the ear of our youth to promote
the anti bullying message.
“And the Childline
number is 1800 666 666
where children can talk to trained counsellors
confidentially.”
  
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