Keith Duffy has revealed that his faith has helped him cope with grieving for his late Boyzone bandmate, Stephen Gately.
Gately, who burst onto the scene as part of Boyzone, alongside Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, Shane Lynch and Mikey Graham, sadly passed away in Spain from a congenital heart defect in 2009, a death which understandably deeply affected his bandmates, including Keith, who said that he suffered from terrifying nightmares, which caused him to dread falling asleep.
"I was scared," Duffy explained to the Sunday Independent. "I was afraid. It was f****** s***. [I was] afraid to go to sleep in case I had nightmares. The nightmares were horrendous after Stephen died." This comes after the band opened up about Stephen living on through their music".
He continued: "I'd get drunk, because when you pass out drunk you don't dream. I went through a really dark and difficult time. And I probably wasn't a nice person at the time either. I was probably drinking too much as well".
At this point, Duffy revealed that it was his "faith" which helped him to get through this difficult time.
"My faith. It was my faith that made me cop on to myself - and sleep again. Oh man," said Keith. "I needed to find faith because I was having nightmares and I couldn't sleep".
Duffy went on to say that Gately even appeared to him in a dream while he was spending the night in a hotel one night.
"The door was closed to the rest of the suite", he said. "Then it was like I was awake. I got up, went into the lounge area. It was very peaceful. Steo was there. He came in the window. He was wearing red runner boots. He always wore his red runner boots. It felt so real. He said: 'C'mon, we need to have a chat.' We sat at the dinner table. He said to me: 'Listen, I'm with you all the time. You need to stop this now. I'm fine".
"He said: 'What's wrong with you? You need to get on with your life now and stop all these things that you're letting go on in your head. Go and have a good night's sleep. Celebrate the memories that you have of me, and we'll be cool".
Duffy who also performs as part of Boyzlife, alongside Brian McFadden, added that faith continues to play a key role in his life.
"I believe in Jesus. I believe in Mary," Keith said. "I believe in God. Jesus is my friend, and we talk.
"I didn't know that the faith was there. It was probably forced into me as a kid, being made to go to Mass every Sunday. Sometimes you'd just go into Mass, grab the leaflet, and pretend you were there. A lot of times if it was raining, you'd end up being there by default". (All quotes according to the Sunday Independent).
Back in May, Duffy also revealed that Ronan Keating once vetoed a massive tour for Boyzone. More on this story here.
