Westlife Star Mark Feehily Gives Hope To Young Victims of Bullying

Speaking to clinical psychologist and Irish Independent columnist David Coleman for his three-part RTE series Bullyproof The Sligo native has revealed the extent of the abuse he suffered.

“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.

But the 31-year-old does admit that his lack of self-confidence was probably a factor.

"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," says Feehily.

In the new RTE series, Coleman meets youngsters suffering from abuse and offers therapeutic advice to teens and pre-teens suffering from bullying and their families who are struggling to cope.

The Westlife star famously overcame years of abuse and torment on Twitter after he revealed in 2007 that he is gay but he says that young people can overcome bullying like he did.