Thanks to Abbie and Diz.

 

 

'I hope I'll meet someone.... maybe have kids'

 

My Weekend

 

Will Young tells Lucy Cavendish about doing ballet, fighting depression and not exactly looking for love

 

Will Young certainly makes heads turn. I've only been with him for a few minutes when a group of middle-aged women start turning and looking at him and then gossiping behind their hands.

 

I think that he probably has this effect on everyone. He seems to be everyone's favourite person. "Oh, Will Young," my forty something friends sighed when I told them that I was meeting him. "Isn't he lovely?" But what is it exactly that makes the 32-year-old Young so popular with older women? It's something he finds hard to pinpoint himself.

 

"I don't know the answer," he says, running his hands through his hair. Then he yawns. He's a bit tired, he tells me, because he is on tour promoting his album Echoes that went straight to No 1 when it came out in August.

 

"I don't mind touring. In fact, I like it, but we were in wales yesterday and then back and this morning I was on Lorraine." That must be his target market, I say - that and aficionados of Woman's Hour such as myself. He was on it the other day and Jane Garvey, the presenter, almost swooned with joy. Young laughs. "I love Woman's hour. I listen to it all the time."

Who would have thought it? Will Young, a WH fan? He certainly didn't start out that way. He first sprang in to the public consciousness a decade ago when he beat stammering poppet Gareth Gates to win Pop Idol in 2002.

 

"It was very unexpected," he says. "I was certainly the underdog. I sort of crept through the competition which is, I think, the best thing to do." He then signed with Simon "Spice Girl" Fuller's management company and is still with them. "I was happy to follow their advice. I didn't do the Pepsi adverts or the hair gel ones."not worth bothering about any more!"

 

 

What he did do was to opt for a career that had some longevity. "I hope so!" he says fervently. "I'm still here but, then again, do you know, the paparazzi take absolutely no notice of me now. I used to get followed everywhere, but now, nothing. They have other people to bother about." Has he found that lack of media intrusion a relief? Maybe he enjoys slipping under the radar a bit?

 

"A relief?" he says, raising his eyebrows. "Absolutely not! Sometimes it actually makes me feel a bit depressed that I'm not worth bothering about any more!"

 

The most likeable thing about Young is how honest he is. He is very clear about many things; he is gay, he takes pills to keep his hair growing, he has suffered from bouts of depression, he went through a period in which he acted like a spoilt brat and he is most open about liking attention.

 

"Of course I do," he says. "There's nothing better than going up on stage and singing to an audience who all think you're great. I'd like to say I'd be OK working behind the scenes, but that would not be true. I do like being a show-off occasionally." But he doesn't take anything for granted. "I work hard. I really do. I train. I keep fit. I do ballet. I write songs. I have to be very careful of myself."

 

He says that most pop stars - or wannabes - don't seem to grasp the fact that to be successful you have to work hard.

 

"I was at ballet class the other day. It was 9.30am and there I was, and guess who'd beaten me there? One of the boys from JLS. They work hard that lot. It was really good to see."

 

He says that his biggest fault is living in his head. "Oh, I get obsessed with things. I get obsessed with every song I write. I get so into them I love every one of them, which makes life difficult."

 

Young says that he thinks of his career as having two separate phases. The first one was the Pop Idol-winning phase. The second was after his huge hit Leave Right Now in 2003. "I think that song brought me to a different audience," he says. "It's what really sent my career into orbit. Up until then I was wondering which direction I was going in, and then ... that song, although I didn't like it at first."

 

I think what really happened was that Leave Right Now appealed to a different audience. His original fan base was teen-aged, but these fans had grown up and Leave Right Now spoke to the and their mothers. "It was cross-generational," he says. But what's interesting about the reaction of women to Young is that, though he is openly gay, they all seem to fancy him. What's that about? "I don't know," he says, laughing. I tell him that I'll make a stab at it: he's good-looking, clean-cut, neatly shaved, intelligent, witty and dresses well. Young just carries on laughing.

 

"I've always been openly gay," he says. "I knew from when I was a teenager that I was gay." He is currently single. "I'm not looking," he says, "then again, I'm not exactly not looking."

 

Does he get bothered by people or worry that he is being approached only because he is famous? He looks thoughtful for a while. "No," he says, "not at all. I've had two serious relationships since Pop Idol and they have both been with lovely genuine men. I hope I'll meet someone .... maybe have kids, but I'm not going to do that on my own."

 

He works hard at keeping his feet on the ground, he says. "It's not easy. The thing about fame is that it is all so addictive. You really get used to being treated in a certain way. Fortunately, I've kept the same people around me and they tell me when I've over-stepped the mark."

 

He's been quite clear in the past that he has overstepped the mark. "Oh, I've behaved like a spoilt brat sometimes," he says. "I got all tantrums and tiaras but everyone put me right about that."

 

He says that counselling helped. "I've had therapy off and on over the years and it has been very beneficial. There's depression in me. I just try to be aware of when I'm about to sink down. It's like being in charge of a ship. I have to keep on calm waters."

 

Young's twin brother Rupert suffers from depression, too. His turned out to be more severe than Will's or maybe his outward symptoms were more obvious. "But he's learnt to deal with it too," says Young. "He now helps other people who suffer with depression."

 

Does he see much of his family? After all, they always sound as if they are very close-knit. He had a seemingly idyllic childhood growing up in Berkshire with his parents, brother and older sister. Can he trust them to keep him on the right path? He pauses for a bit. "Yes and no," he says. "[Your]family always love you whatever, so sometimes they are too close to see if you are behaving badly."

 

He doesn't do any of that now though. "I'm settled," he says, "very settled." He recently moved from West London to the East End and he says that he loves it. "I have a house. I have a garden. I'm getting a dog. It all feels good." However, he says that when he first moved, there was a dip. "Sometimes I really have to steel myself to go into the outside world. It would be so easy to sit in my bubble." He says that part of the fear is of being recognised and then having to deal with members of the public, however well-intentioned they are. The other part is fear. "Let's face it," he says. "I am gay and I have had homophobic remarks shouted at me, and although I have grown accustomed to it, it can still be quite frightening." Although he has never set himself up to be a gay role model he has a lot to say on the matter.

 

"I am incensed about the way people use the word gay to mean something awful. School kids do it all the time. 'That's so gay'. I really want teachers to be aware of this and help to point out the negative connotations." He shuffles in his chair a bit. "Don't get me started."

 

Once he has finished touring he says that he will settle for a bit. "I'm getting a puppy. I'm so excited by it."

 

He is also intending to spend time at his house in Cornwall. "It's on Bodmin Moor and it's a wild place, very old, very restorative." When he's there, he likes to surf. "I love it! It's such a special thing to do. I go out in the sea and then I know this one thing; it's a whole lot bigger than I am! It puts things in perspective. I'm getting older and I'm fine with that. Basically, I feel the most attractive I've ever felt as a man!"

 

Will Young's album Echoes is out now. Tickets for his Christmas show at the Palladium on December 12 are available at willyoung.co.uk

 

 

Will Young's perfect weekend

 

Ballet or boxing?

Ballet

 

Wine or water?

Water

 

Towie or Frozen Planet?

Frozen Planet

 

Ford or Ferrari?

Ferrari

 

Cat or dog?

Dog

 

South Bank or South Coast?

South Coast

 

Prince William or Prince harry?

Prince Harry

 

TV or theatre?

Theatre

 

Santa or Scrooge?

Scrooge

 

I couldn't get through the weekend without.....

A curry - chicken korma and a Cobra beer

I managed to get a copy of the paper this afternoon, great interview. :P

I managed to get a copy of the paper this afternoon, great interview. :P

 

Popped out to local store on pretence of needing a bottle of wine but there was none left. :(

 

 

Popped out to local store on pretence of needing a bottle of wine but there was none left. :(

 

:( That's a shame. The wine would be handy though. :P

:( That's a shame. The wine would be handy though. :P

 

It's going down well and making x factor more bearable :lol:

 

It's going down well and making x factor more bearable :lol:

:D The fast forward button is an essential part of watching too"

Thanks TT :D

Thanks TT. My husband waa out yesterday so I phoned him quickly when I saw the thread over on Baby D and he managed to get a copy. Nice piccy too.