As promised, here is the interview between Graham Norton and Stephen Gately in this month's ATTITUDE magazine. STEPHEN is in red, GRAHAM is in blue and ATTITUDE is in purple.

Attitude- June 2000

GATELY MEETS GRAHAM

They're both Irish. And gay too. As if you didn't know that. Who better to

have a chat with young Stephen Gately, on the eve of being launched into the

solo pop stratosphere, than lovable comic rogue Graham Norton. Let witticisms

commence!

So how exactly did you two meet? I know you mentioned Graham in our

December cover story.

Yeah, Graham sent a really beautiful letter to myself and Eloy

during the whole coming out thing. It was really cool. We have it at home in

Holland.

We thought you were big friends.

No, just on a very shallow showbiz level.

Me and Eloy are great fans of Graham, Boyzone used to watch Father

Ted over and over again on the tour bus and just piss ourselves laughing.

(Stephen goes in lengthy Father Ted homage.)

Even I don't know that stuff! But I must say I felt like a bit of a

wanker for sending that letter.

No, no, it was great. A lot of people were ringing the office: Lily

Savage, Dale Winton, George Michael... Elton John sent some flowers.

Looking back, are you surprised at the success of the whole coming

out thing?

I didn't know which way it was gonna go to be honest, I didn't know

whether the press were gonna support me or go against me.

Now do you think, 'God, I was mad. I should have done it ages ago'?

No, I think the timing was right. When I was seventeen I already

knew of course, but you always think 'who's gonna accept me?' But when I did

come out, it was an unbelievable weight off my shoulders. I mean it's one

thing to come out to your family and all that, but if you're coming out to

the whole world, it's completely different.

I never did that, the coming out bit to the whole world, the 'I'm

gaaaayy' bit! Everybody knew already. But it's difficult when you're in the

public eye, your parents don't get to choose 'well, I'll tell that neighbour

because they'll be cool with it'...

I'd prepared my mum and dad, ages, years before, I said you know

someday it might happen.

A friend of mine, and this is I think a very Irish thing to ask, was

saying would my mother swap my success for my gayness, would she say that she

preferred me straight and unsuccessful.

What do you think?

Well I think now, now that it's happening, she's fine with it. We

actually went on holiday together last week, can you believe it? Anyway,

enough about my mother. Were you pleased with how your album launch went last

night?

Oh yeah. Loads of people were there. Ronan, Keith and Shane came

over specially. Mikey couldn't make it. I got really really drunk. Six pints

in two hours. I felt really weak, so I went upstairs at half three and had a

bowl of Rice Krispies with hot milk.

Perfect hangover cure! Anyway, I've heard about half of your album.

It's really good - and no ballads! Everyone thought, 'oh, he's the ballad

boy!'

Well, there's a couple of ballads. On one hand, I didn't want to

stray too far from pop, because I love pop music. But I didn't want too many

ballads like Boyzone, because we've already had too many ballads. (laughs)

When you were making it, did you think 'ooh I mustn't make this sound

like Boyzone?'

No, it's just the sound that I wanted with the producers. I worked

with a guy from Sweden called Anders. He's a Viking. He is, really. He

produced New Beginning and some other tracks. He was lovely.

New Beginning sounds very personal to me. You sing that line 'Seven

years of waiting...'

The song has got a lot of double meanings for me. There was seven

years of waiting before I came out and then I was in a group for seven years

before I did my own stuff...

Is it lonely by yourself or is it a relief?

No, it's not a relief. Not when I'm standing on stage by myself

singing lead without the other guys there. But at the same time you don't

have anyone pinching your arse or kicking you on stage, which is handy! When

the five of us had to do photo shoots we were just the worst. They'd always

ask us to move around, and we'd all walk around and come back to the exact

same position we started in. They'd get really pissed off.

(We're briefly interrupted by Stephen's boyfriend Eloy - who, believe us, is

stunning in the flesh - a big hunk of a man who politely says hello then pops

off).

Eloy was drinking as well last night. He's a good drinker.

We like a good drinker.

What was I saying?

Photographers?

Yeah, you're standing there in front of the camera and they're

pulling your hair, farting, oh it's horrible. Now I can just get it over and

done with.

I always feel bad when I have my photograph taken, that I can't do

more. All I can do is stand there and smile. I kinda think, 'I wish I had

tits', y'know what I mean?

Some people try to get you to jump off chairs and stuff like that.

I'm not doing that again! Last week I was actually in a big yellow mailbag

for Smash Hits.

Aww, you have to be nice to Smash Hits. That was brilliant when you

got that Hero of the Year award.

Yeah, that was cool. I was really pleased, knowing all those kids

had voted for me.

That's when you think, yes, Britain must be changing a bit.

Oh, it is, definitely.

Is it gonna be weird with the other guys in the band when you're

number one and everything?

No, Ronan's had a number one already, and his album is sounding

really good as well, I've heard some of Mikey's stuff and er... (fatally

hesitates to find words to Graham's gleeful sniggers) Wait a minute. Did I

say anything?!

No, exactly. You didn't say anything! There was just a really funny

pause.

No, his stuff is really nice. Very different.

Too late now, the damage has been done. (shouts) Fuck him! He didn't

support your album! Nobody buy his record! (Calmly, into recorder) I said

that. Stephen didn't say that.

No, it's good. It is.

It must be hard because Ronan was like 'the one' and then with the

whole gay thing, you did sort of become 'the one'.

I've never seen it like that. But yes, the support I've had has been

incredible. With fans, I mean, the amount of letters, the amount of e-mails,

the amount of phone calls. The Sun said they'd never had more phone calls.

Even when Take That broke-up, they didn't have as many as I had.

But then what's nice about you is, literally, you're so 'nice'. It

isn't like you've got a leather dungeon in your basement.

(laughs) Oh my god, someone stop him!

You'd have to come out again: 'I'm back! And it's much worse, it's

not as nice as you thought!'

(still laughing) The uncut version!

It's not all holding hands!

... and walking dogs.

Two little girls came up to me the other day and one said: "I know

you! You're adorable', and then her friend goes: 'Eurrk - he licks men's

tits, he's a bum boy!'

Oh really?

You feel like saying, 'no little girl, let me tell you, licking tits

is the tip of the iceberg!'

(laughs) I had a really funny incident on a plane one day. This

little kid came up to me, and said: 'can I have your autograph?' About twelve

he was, and I said 'yes, who's it for?' 'Katherine', he said. 'Oh, is

Katherine your girlfriend?' I says. 'no, I'm Katherine.' It was a little

girl, and the parents were sitting right behind me! It was so embarrassed! I

couldn't wait to get off that flight.

Aww, a little lesbian in training!

(Stephen laughs)

I remember now I was on a plane to Dublin with you once.

Were we all singing at the front?

No, I think you were all feeling a bit rough. But I was so shocked

that you all got your own luggage. All those number ones, and you still have

to wait by the carrousel. That's just wrong!

I always get my own luggage. I wouldn't let anyone else get my

stuff.

Do you like living in Holland?

Yeah, I do. But I'm not living there full-time. I've still got a

house in Ireland, but I'm over in Holland with Eloy a lot.

Where do you live?

About 20 minutes outside the centre by car, in the countryside. it's

really lovely.

With the dogs.

Two dogs. I had a little shih-tzu I got nine months ago and then Eloy

got me one as a surprise for my birthday. This tiny little cute American

Cockerspaniel, with the long ears and just looking at me with these sad eyes,

just looking at me like that (pulls cutesy eyes). So he's Woody. Joey and

Woody.

God, I'd love a dog, but...

Why not get one?

No, well... because it would probably just die. Of neglect. I'd be

out somewhere thinking, 'there's some reason why I should go home, what is it

again?'

Two days later: 'Shit, the dog!'

My boyfriend Scott is desperate to get a dog.

Oh you should, they're great fun, great company if you're lonely.

Even though they shit in the kitchen. There's always crap on the kitchen

floor.

Scott had one when he lived in America and you'd get home drunk or

just want to have Rice Krispies with hot milk, and there was this fucking dog

that needs to be taken out.

Eloy does that. Well, actually, I do it at night, and he does it in

the morning cause I can't get out of bed. He's a night person and I'm a

morning person.

The ideal boyfriend! As you and Eloy are so famously together is it a

pressure?

No it's not, no pressure at all. He's a really successful in Germany

as an artist in his own right.

Has he gone solo as well?

Yeah, Backstreet Boys used to support him when his band were so big

in Germany.

Wow.

Exactly what happened to me in England happened to him in Germany,

but people don't really know that. He had the whole press thing over there,

all the TV, the news... everything.

Do you think it must be odd if you're gay in a boyband now, and

think, 'oh, I could do that'. It looks a bit naff, like, 'oh, they're just

doing what Stephen Gately did.'

I feel sorry if there is anybody like that in a boyband.

Oh, if?! (laughs) What do you mean if? Nowadays it's 'let's spot the

gay one!' everytime a boyband comes on TV! Do you play that game at home as

well?

No, I play South Park.

Or is there a kind of hidden gay boyband world?

I think if you look at a person you can kind of get the impression

if they're gay or not, by the way they act. I don't know how people didn't

know about me for six years! (laughs)

Well... (laughs)

I just never opened my mouth, never said anything.

When you go back to Dublin do you ever go out on the scene?

No, I never go to clubs, I don't like clubs. I like to sit in a bar

or a restaurant and just have a chat.

It's funny because when I read the interview in Attitude, and I was

like 'God! His life sounds as dull as mine!'

Well, my life is so busy anyway, always doing something, going

places... so anytime I get to myself I just like to chill out, take it easy,

stay in with Eloy...

This is horrible to ask, but do you ever wonder what you'd do if you

split up with Eloy? Because I met my boyfriend before I got on the telly, and

I think God, if we split up, it would be a really weird situation to be in.

Famous and desperate.

No, I don't think of that. We've known each other six years and

we've been together a year and a half. We just get along, do our thing

everyday, you know ups and downs, have a laugh...

How did you manage before, if you know what I mean?

How did I manage before?

I mean being gay in an 'academic' way.

We used to go on different flights, get different cars to the

hotel...

No, I mean before you even met Eloy.

A life of celibacy.

Was it really?

Nah (laughs)

Did you put on a hat and got to countries where you weren't famous to

have sex?

No, it wasn't that either. I mean, I didn't go out or anything like

that. I'd met a couple of people, but it was nothing serious.

That must have been really scary.

It was scary.

You'd really have to trust someone not to sell their story.

Yeah, it's very hard to trust people, but I trust Eloy now.

Yeah, but you don't have to trust people now. Everybody knows!

I know, but the trust we have between each other is amazing.

But you can go mad now! 'The story's worthless! Come have sex with

us! You can't sell it to anybody now!'

No! No! We're very committed. That's the way we see it, as a normal

couple. I mean now we go to the pictures, go shopping. The first time we got

photographed in public was when we were going into Gucci. We were leaving to

pick up our rings from Cartier and then to come back and get our shopping and

got our picture taken. It was in the paper the next day, an exclusive, saying

'they go shopping but didn't buy anything'. I was like 'yes, I did! I got a

big bloody bag of Gucci clothes! Spent a fortune.' I should have carried the

bags and gotten them in the picture.

And then got something for free!

Gucci look after us.

Well, they will now.

Another thing you both have in common is growing up gay in Ireland.

Well, I grew up about 20 miles outside of Cork. It's the kind of

place you just drive through. I sat there waiting to leave. 'Am I eighteen

yet?'

I was a city lad. In Dublin. It was a really rough area.

But you've turned out nice.

They'd knock on your door selling 10 bottles of hairspray for a

pound, you know - all hot. Or a table and six chairs. My mom got that

actually. I'd collect sticks and go sell them from door to door.

Do you still know a lot of people from back then?

Not majorly. My closest friend's my sister. She's actually the first

person I ever told I was gay. Went out to a bar one day and told her over

several drinks. She was fine about it.

For a lot of people that's the experience though. A big anti-climax.

They knew already.

I know. You think: 'But you're supposed to ask for a double whiskey

now and pull your hair out!'

You were saying about the Smash Hits people voting and how things are

changing, but don't you think that if you still lived in that neighbourhood

you probably still wouldn't be out?

No, I think it would have been a lot easier.

Really?

Yeah, because it's not in the public eye and you can just tell who

you want to know. Mind you, once you told one person something on our road,

everyone would know the next day anyway.

Yeah: 'News just in: you know that boy that used to sell sticks?

Well, don't buy sticks from him - you don't know where they've been!'

(laughs) Do your mum dad still live there?

Oh yeah, and my three brothers and one sister. And it was five of us

literally in one bedroom when we were kids. Me and me sister used to share

the same bed.

I suppose that upbringing has grounded you. You really don't live the

celeb highlife, do you?

Well, some people will go to this party and that party in London and

then others are so famous they can kind of stay clear of all that. Look at

Jodie Foster, she doesn't go anywhere.

I think you only need to go to those parties twice and realise that

you're missing nothing. But have you ever been at one and seen someone in the

corner you're a really big fan of, and you go up to them and they're not the

person you expected at all.

Well some people have not been as friendly as I imagined...

Oh, give us clues!

No! Because it'll be a headline: 'Stephen Slags Off...'

Oh, it's too late now! Mikey's already in tears.

(Stephen laughs)

I remember being at something and I got trapped in a corner with

Chris Eubank, and you kind of think, oh dear God. He's sweet, clueless, but

sweet.

It costs nothing to be nice and I don't like people who are rude.

In the show they write these jokes for me and some of them are really

vile. I'll say 'please don't make me say that out loud on television.' That's

another reason why I don't go to these parties because I'm terrified of

meeting these people! (laughs) So I suppose there'll be no other dirt about

you in the papers?

No, that was the biggest bit - coming out.

You've shot your tabloid load!

I'll tell you I was shittin' it that night. And we were sitting down

thinking it's really happening now, looking at Sky News and the next days

papers.

It became this huge story.

Yeah, but I can't believe little Stephen from Dublin who used to

chop sticks for �20, and yet he's splattered on the front of the papers.

What will you do when you bump into the person who went to the papers

to try to sell the story?

I don't know if I will.

Why, is he dead? Did the Boyzone maffia kill him?

Well I know his name, but I don't know what he looks like or

anything. I think it was someone in local security.

At least that's better than it being someone in your life trying to

make money out of you.

Well what do you do? Do you sit at home and watch TV for the rest of

your life, or do you go out and enjoy life?

Have any famous people come to you for advice about the whole thing?

No, I mean what advice could I give? You know panic, then panic some

more, start sweating on the third day...

Did you and Eloy have to decide to do a synchronised outing?

Well, we said if it's gonna happen in England, then it's definitely

gonna happen in Germany, so we might as well do it at the same time.

And was he cool with that or was he as panicked as you?

No, he's good. If he sees me panicking he chills me out. If I see

him panicking the I do the same. If we're both panicking, we just lock the

door!

I guess it's a relief now because both of you know there isn't the

actual worry of somebody looking over your shoulder all the time.

It's cool. Like yesterday, I was so tired on the plane I just lay on

his shoulder and started snoring - it's not a problem.

Would you ever work together?

Everybody's been asking if we'll do a duet. I'd like to work

together with him, writing for his album or something, but I can't imagine a

duet.

Might be a bit creepy. I can just see you on the National Lottery

singing to each other on stools. Like Kylie & Jason. Especially For You.

I don't think so (laughs)

Stephen's single New Beginning is released May 29 on Polydor Associated

Labels, the album follows 5 June.