Westlife's Shane Filan cried on stage over loss of his parents

Shane Filan has told how he ran off stage crying during a show because he was overcome with emotion over losing his parents.

The Westlife singer, 42, lost his mother Mae in December 2019 and his dad Peter passed away in 2020.

Speaking on Loose Women - which he and his bandmates guest hosted – Filan said he broke down during a BBC Radio 2 concert in Belfast a couple of months ago, when he realised his parents would never be there to watch Westlife perform again.

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Opening up during a discussion about crying being good for you, he said: “It was an emotional night and my parents passed away in the last year and a half and I don’t think I’d had that moment where I’d properly cried.

“I bottled it up and I didn’t realise I’d bottled it up. I cried when they passed away, but for a long time I didn’t cry and was like, ‘I’m kind of dealing with this’ and I felt like I should be worse.

“But when I did the show in Belfast, I felt really weird all day and I felt nervous going on stage for the first time whereas I’m usually excited and buzzing. Went on the stage and just choked."

The star said they were performing 'You Raise Me Up' and he "started balling crying in the middle of the song".

Bandmate Mark Feehily said at the time he didn't know whether Filan would manage to get through the song.

“Yeah, I looked at you a few times and it was like, ‘Man I don’t know if I’m going to get through it’,” said Filan.

“I realised it was the first time I was doing a Westlife show without my parents and I was never going to do it again. I cried and ran off stage and Zoe Ball was looking at me like, ‘Oh my God, what’s happening?’”

He added: “I went upstairs and had a big cry and you were all there for me.”

Read more: Brian McFadden once knocked himself out while trying to throw a TV out of a window

The star revealed in 2019 that his mother had passed away on 15 December 2019, saying it was “the saddest day of my life”.

When his dad died just 10 months later the singer said his heart was “broken”.

Loose Women is on weekdays from 12:30pm on ITV and ITV Hub.

Watch: Jane McDonald cries on Loose Women discussing long-term partner's death