Keith Duffy has opened how about his faith and how it saved him following the death of fellow Boyzone member, Stephen Gately.
The conversation sparked whilst he appeared as a guest on The Tommy Tiernan over the weekend.
The comedian questioned Keith about the significance of his religious tattoos placed on his forearms.
"I've got great faith and I've a great relationship with Our Lady in whatever way you see her, but I see her in different ways, so it's Mother Mary in different forms," the Dublin singer explained.
"I think growing up in Dublin me Mam and Dad always used to make me go to mass every Sunday.
He continued: "And I didn't realise that my faith was growing all the time. And when I arrived at difficult situations in my life later on”
He went on to say that he found solace in praying to “Mother Mary” following Gately tragic death in 2009 and used to repeat the Hail Mary in bed to distract from nightmares.
"I suffered at the time trying to understand the loss of a friend like that, that I was so close to," he said visibly emotional.
"I struggled to sleep at night. I had nightmares, really bad nightmares, and I didn't want to go asleep. I probably drank too much at the time as well, just to try and knock myself out. And the nightmares were pretty extreme, and they were very scary.
To help myself relax in bed - to help myself try and nod off asleep - I used to say the Hail Mary over and over and over again, just to stop my mind from wandering or thinking about things I didn't want to think about
Watch the interview in full on the RTÉ Player.
