Five were left "traumatised" by pop stardom
The 1990s group - which consists of Abz Love, Jason 'J' Brown, Ritchie Neville, Scott Robinson, and Sean Conlon - have got back together as a quintet for the first time since their split in 2001 but have admitted that the first time around, being in the group took a mental toll on all of them
18 March 2025
Ritchie told The Independent: "We should have had six months off. It's taken us 25 years - I'm not even joking - literally 25 years to be able to even get my head around it."
Sean added: "It's almost like we've been traumatised."
Ritchie insisted: "No, we are traumatised!"
But Ritchie admitted that once it was all over, he felt "completely lost" and turned to alcohol in a bid to cope.
He said: "Jesus, straight after the band, for three years I was sat in a living room, frozen, drinking too much, completely lost.
"I used to say, 'I feel like I'm a rowing boat in the sea with no oars or sail."
Meanwhile, J admitted that he started to suffer from insomnia during his time with the 'Everybody Get Up' hitmakers because of the demanding schedule.
He said: ""I went through the whole [experience] with chronic insomnia, from about three months after it all kicked off.
"Most nights I was getting maximum three-and-a-half-hours' sleep. Sometimes I'd go four or five days on an hour and a half, and then have to get up at five in the morning and film a new video."
The group will be back on the road across autumn 2025 for the 'Keep on Movin' Tour' and Abz said that he is "proud" of how himself and his bandmates have put themselves back in the spotlight again.
He said: "What I feel like I want to say is how proud I am of these guys and how brave they are to put themselves into this environment again."
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