90s pop stars who went off the rails – from bankrupt S Club 7 member to Take That singer’s string of shocking affairs
WITH fame, fortune and scores of adoring fans, you'd be forgiven for thinking the life of a popstar is all fun and games.
But it seems that's far from reality for some Nineties stars.
This week, former Take That pin-up Robbie Williams opened up on his struggles adapting to being "ridiculously famous".
The 47-year-old described his situation to the Mirror: “Extreme fame and extreme success meets with anxiety and depression and mental illness."
In his Nineties heyday, the singer has told of how he tried to combat his shyness in a sea of booze and drugs which nearly killed him.
Singers from other bands of the same era have made similar complaints, while some have admitted their lives became plagued by substance abuse and relationship drama.
Here we reveal the 90s stars who struggled to cope with the pressures of fame.
Sold Brit Awards on eBay
Paul Cattermole, who performed with S Club 7, faced difficult times when he left the band after two years in 2002.
The 44-year-old quit the spotlight and was later forced to sell his two Brit Awards on eBay because he was “skint” and there were “bills to pay”.
He flogged his 2002 gong for Best Single for £65,000 and had to list another, his 2000 award for Best Newcomer, twice.
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It followed the winning bidder failing to pay £66,000 and after posting it on eBay again, he told fans: “Grab yourself a bargain!”
Paul told BBC Newsbeat he was not “dissing" the band by selling it, but admitted thinking “one day I bet I end up selling that” after initially receiving the gongs.
Last year it emerged he's launched a new career as a tarot card reader, offering regular readings on his YouTube channel Tarot Me This.
Affairs with 10 women
Mark Owen was assumed to be the 'squeaky clean' member of boyband Take That – but in 2012 that all came undone.
Three years after tying the knot with Emma Ferguson he admitted to being unfaithful and claimed to be “deeply sorry” for his actions.
Mark had a string of long-term affairs including a four-year relationship with accounts manager Neva Hanley, whom he slept with for a final time a month before getting hitched.
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He also had multiple hook-ups during that time, which he blamed on booze, and said he'd been “an idiot” for sleeping with 10 women.
After the news came out, Emma was said to be “absolutely mortified” by the “sheer scale of betrayal”.
“Almost overnight, Emma has gone from being in what she thought was a happy marriage to finding out her husband is a serial adulterer with a big drink problem,” a friend told the .
However, she stood by her husband and the couple celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary in 2019.
Bandmates staged intervention
Backstreet Boys star AJ McLean struggled with alcohol addiction for 20 years and also took drugs.
During his darkest periods he claimed he was “never sober, not for a second”.
In 2001 his fellow band members staged an intervention after he missed rehearsals due to his wild drinking.
“They basically broke into my house, and they dumped ice water on me while I was passed out in my bed,” AJ told Good Morning America in 2020.
AJ had periods of sobriety but indulged in secret booze sessions while away from his wife.
He vowed to put it behind him in 2019 - after one "last hurrah" trip to Las Vegas.
AJ had “mapped out the whole night” – knowing where he would pick up drugs and get drunk – but on the way home he missed the first of his two returning flights.
When he returned home stinking of booze, his daughter Lyric said: “You don’t smell like my daddy.”
The haunting words caused him to drop to his knees and made him “feel disgusting”, which led him to going sober once and for all.
Heart condition from booze
AJ wasn’t the only Backstreet Boys star to go off the rails – Nick Carter also struggled with booze and drugs.
He claimed his life “could’ve ended up in tragedy” during the height of his problems due to his reckless behaviour.
“I did ecstasy, cocaine and drank a large bottle of vodka a night. I regret taking ecstasy,” Nick told Radar.
“The amount I did caused changes to my brain that are responsible for my bouts of depression now.”
His heavy drinking started when he was a teenager and he began using cocaine “for an energy boost” along with other drugs.
The substance abuse left his face “bloated” and saw him gain more than 3st.
In 2005 Nick was arrested for driving under the influence and ordered to attend 13 Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings.
A year later, he returned to drinking excessively and consumed “rivers of vodka”.
One morning, having downed 20 shots of sambuca the night before, Nick woke up convinced he was having a heart attack.
He was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a potentially fatal disease that affects the heart, caused by his drug and alcohol use.
It was that moment that made him realise he needed to “change or die” and he decided to go clean.
Multiple arrests
Former Destiny’s Child member Farrah Franklin has been arrested several times since departing from the group in 2000.
She was arrested for disorderly conduct in 2011 and 2014, and charged for public intoxication and marijuana possession in 2016.
Her last arrest followed an argument with a man outside a gym at 3am that led police to question Farrah.
Officers described her as having bloodshot eyes and slurring her words. When they asked how much she had drank, she responded: “Not enough."
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TMZ reported that she was unable to pay her $250 bail.
She appears to have since cleaned up her act, and often promotes fitness apps and supplements on her Instagram page.