90s heartthrob Kavana has revealed that he was once paid for drug-fuelled sex after having an ‘exhausting’ battle to hide his sexuality during his pop career.
In his new memoir, Anthony Kavanagh, who rose to fame under the name Kavana, has lifted the lid on the darker side of stardom with his explosive autobiography, Pop Scars, which is to be released on July 17.
He found success at the age of just 16 years old with a series of hit singles such as I Can Make You Feel Good and Special Kind of Something in the late 1990s.
But he has now revealed the personal cost of fame after he battled both alcohol and drug addiction which ended up leaving him homeless and admitted he ‘needed to be locked up’.
Manchester-born Kavana was signed to a record label in his teens and soon found himself partying with pop stars and touring with Boyzone.
However with a young female fanbase, the heartthrob was ‘afraid’ of having his sexuality outed as his fame deepened on him being ‘straight’ for his young teenage girl fans.
90s heartthrob Kavana has revealed that he was once paid for drug-fuelled sex after having an ‘exhausting’ battle to hide his sexuality during his pop career
In his new memoir, Anthony Kavanagh, who rose to fame under the name Kavana, has lifted the lid on the darker side of stardom with his explosive autobiography, Pop Scars, which is to be released on July 17 (pictured in 1997)
While on one tour, Kavana had a secret relationship with Boyzone’s Stephen Gately, who tragically died of an undiagnosed heart condition in 2009.
Discussing hiding his sexuality, he told The Guardian: ‘It was difficult and that’s where alcohol came in as a comfort.
‘It’s crazy when I look back now, the time that we were in. It was a constant act and it was exhausting but you just got on with it because I was so lucky for this to happen to me’.
Soon after touring, Kavana was dropped from his record label and his fame bubble popped causing him to turn to booze even more.
The 90s star decided to move to the States to see if he could break America but jobs soon dried up and admitted he hit rock bottom after becoming lonely and turned to alcohol and crystal meth.
Kavana said he became a ‘loose cannon and got myself into situations’ including waking up in a stranger’s flat realising he had been paid for sex.
In the memoir, Kavana described the reality of waking up in a stranger’s apartment and the realisation he had been paid for the sex he couldn’t remember.
He also revealed that he had smoked crack in a skip in Hackney with a homeless woman he had just met and whom he trusts with his bank card to score more drugs – before adding that ‘you should never give a stranger your pin code while high’.
After finding fame at 16, Kavana has now revealed the personal cost of being in the spotlight after he battled both alcohol and drug addiction which ended up leaving him homeless; pictured before rehab
However with a young female fanbase, the heartthrob was ‘afraid’ of having his sexuality outed as his fame deepened on him being ‘straight’
Discussing hiding his sexuality, he said: ‘It was difficult and that’s where alcohol came in as a comfort. It was a constant act and it was exhausting but you just got on with it because I was so lucky for this to happen to me’
He was forced to move home after seven years penniless and also lost his elderly parents’ home, which he had been paying the mortgage on.
Kavana turned to drink once again as he saw the stars around him, including Ant and Dec and Billie Piper, reinventing themselves and become successful while he felt ‘shame’ and ‘regret’.
The ex pop star started hanging out with Amy Winehouse, who also had her own alcohol addiction, before she died age 27 in 2011 from accidental alcohol poisoning.
Kavana’s drink and drug problem drained his wallet and ultimately led to him ‘secretly living in an old people’s sheltered housing complex with his mother.’
After attempting to go to rehab and AA meetings, Kavana was forced to sign up to the job center in Manchester and was scared of being recognised as ‘the washed up popstar’ causing him to relapse.
However, following getting a large payout from a newspaper after they agreed to settle a defamation case he had long forgotten, Kavana went to a private rehab facility as he admitted ‘I need to be locked up’ as he thought alcohol was going to kill him.
He is now three and half years sober and wrote his new memoir Pop Scars during the first year of sobriety and is using that as a reminder of where alcohol took him.
Kavana noted to the publication how it is strange doing interviews again in a time where he can be open about his sexuality and mental health, ‘we didn’t talk about it back then’.
In the memoir, Kavana described hitting rock bottom and the reality of waking up in a stranger’s apartment and the realisation he had been paid for the sex he couldn’t remember
He also revealed that he had smoked crack in a skip in Hackney with a homeless woman he had just met and whom he trusts with his bank card to score more drugs
The singer documented his 2022 entry into rehab after sadly relapsing a year earlier.
In February 2022, he took to Twitter to apologise to his family for not being ‘truthful’ as he admitted that alcoholism had ‘got a grip on him’ in an emotional post.
He spoke of his ‘mental struggles’, before signing off social media for the foreseeable future.
The statement read: ‘Today I go into rehab. Again. This illness of Alcoholism has got its grip. I’ll be off social media for a while.
‘To what family I have left, I’m sorry I wasn’t truthful I’ve been going through a lot of mental struggles. Good news I’m going to get the help I need.
‘My phone will be off for a while. Clint, Aunty Angela, Aunty Maria, Brad, I’m going to be OK and I love you all madly x.’
Kavana’s new memoir Pop Scars will be released on July 17.