Gately 'mended rift with mother just before death'
Stephen Gately patched up a decade-long rift with his mother in one of his final acts before his death, according to a magazine.
The pair had quarrelled since 1999 when his mother gave an interview to a tabloid newspaper on the day he came out as gay, with their relationship particularly strained over the last five years.
However, in an interview with Reveal magazine, given two weeks before he died, the former Boyzone singer said he flew to Dublin to make peace with his mother.
Gately told the magazine: “There were tears and I told her I loved her very much and I’d always be there for her.
“I told her I was wrong and I should never have let it get that far.”
Gately said he was “ashamed” that he was not getting on with his mother and the arguments had started over “the silliest thing”.
In the end it was his brother who encouraged him to mend the rift and make it up.
The Irish singer spoke candidly about coming to terms with depression after Boyzone split and how he rejected anti-depressants because they made him feel like a zombie.
Howver, it was finding husband Andrew Cowles that eventually helped Gately get his life back on track and the pair had even discussed starting a family together.
He told Reveal: “I’d love to be a dad, Andrew and I are always talking about how lovely it would be.
“I don’t think I’d ever feel truly fulfilled in my life if I didn’t experience the job of being a father.”
Gately died of a cardiogenic pulmonary oedema two weeks ago in the home he shared with Cowles on the Spanish island of Mallorca.
The full interview appears in this week’s edition of Reveal.
