Westlife’s Mark Feehily is now a daddy after having a baby girl with his fiancé
Mark Feehily opened up about his journey to fatherhood. (Instagram)
Westlife star Mark Feehily has opened up about becoming a dad in October 2019, just months before the world went into lockdown.
The singer, who came out as gay in 2005 when the boyband was at the height of its success, welcomed baby Layla with his fiancé Cailean O’Neill on 1 October, 2019, via a surrogate.
Mark Feehily opened up about his path to parenthood, and revealed that his Westlife bandmates have helped along the way, during interviews on The One Show and Loose Women this week.
When asked if his Westlife co-stars, who are also dads, helped out during an appearance on The One Show, Feehily replied: “Honestly they gave me loads and loads of advice, both leading up to before she was born.
“Not too far after she was born we were doing promotion because we had our last album Spectrum out, so they were literally helping me change nappies, warm up her bottle. They’ve been fantastic.
Westlife singer Mark Feehily expects fewer late nights after becoming a dad
During an appearance on Loose Women on Thursday, Feehily said he expects touring to look very different this time around as he now has to balance parenthood with being a performer.
“It’s going to be very different,” Feehily said. “I think there is going to be a lot more early mornings and a lot less late nights.”
He added: “Layla wasn’t born the last time we were on tour, she was born just afterwards.
“We were getting ready for her to arrive while all the last gigs were happening, but all the lads had their kids on that tour.
“It was such a pleasure going into the catering room every evening and we sat on this massive table with all the kids, and just sat back and let them entertain us.”
Mark Feehily said he is “happy being 40 years old and being that fatherly figure”.
“The kids were forming their own band backstage and they used to put gigs on for us,” he said.
He said Layla will be two and a half when Westlife next hit the road, and he expects that she will love the touring process.
“I think she is going to love it, she loves music,” he said.
