Mirror<\/a>: \u201cWe\u2019re devastated he won\u2019t be joining us on this tour. We\u2019ll be missing him every night just as much as the fans will. But he\u2019s given us his full support. This is the 25th anniversary, it’s something that we all felt needed to be celebrated. We hope as soon as he\u2019s ready he\u2019ll be back with us and we look forward to that moment.\u201d<\/p>\nThe singer had previously addressed his health problems when he took a temporary departure from Westlife days before their first-ever American tour in 2024.<\/p>\n
He said at the time: \u201cMost of you are aware that I have had some health challenges over the past while.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt actually all started 3.5 years ago in August 2020 when I had surgery. Within a few days of this surgery I was in severe pain and was rushed into A&E.<\/p>\n
![\"Shane](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2_Westlife-Perform-At-The-Royal-Albert-Hall.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The trio are heading on a world tour but Mark has joined them in creating new music (Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cI eventually ended that awful day in ICU (Intensive Care Unit) where I was informed that due to a complication with the surgery, I had developed severe ‘Sepsis’, a life-threatening infection that would require immediate emergency surgery to rectify the problem and basically save my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
He continued: \u201cI spent the next few months in hospital. It was during lockdown. For months, due to strict Covid restrictions, I was not allowed any visitors including my fiance and my then 10-month-old daughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was physically and mentally a very difficult time, not to mention traumatic having to spend so long in ICU.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn late 2021, I became very ill in Newcastle before a concert and ended up back in A&E, this time being told I had pneumonia. I was told I had to go straight home to recover and regrettably miss the rest of the concerts that December.<\/p>\n
![\"Westlife](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2_Image.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Shane, Kian and Nicky recently appeared on Britain’s Got Talent without Mark (Image: ITV)<\/p>\n
\u201cI was referred to a consultant who told me I needed more surgery which I went ahead with in May 2022 meaning I was forced to miss more of The Wild Dreams tour.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree months after that surgery, I tried my best to soldier on for you guys and to go back on tour but unfortunately the physical demands of the concerts and extensive travel were proving too much for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI developed a very large ‘incisional hernia’ and I was told that I needed further surgery to fix it. This would be my fourth major surgery since the start of it all, but I had no option.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: ‘It is with the upmost level of regret that I must now temporarily stand down from all Westlife touring until a time that I have had the chance to fully recover from the turbulent journey I have been through as an individual.<\/p>\n
\u201cBelieve me, I wish things could be different! I would like to thank you so very much for your support and understanding of me and my health over the past few years.\u201d<\/p>\n
BBC Breakfast airs from 6am on BBC One and iPlayer<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Members of Westlife appeared on BBC Breakfast and addressed the absence of their bandmate Mark Feehily from their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":952326,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[15339,18849,77,170981,73371,269,170982,170980,16,15,73370],"class_list":{"0":"post-952325","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-bbc-breakfast","9":"tag-bbc1","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-kian-egan","12":"tag-mark-feehily","13":"tag-music","14":"tag-nicky-byrne","15":"tag-shane-filan","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-westlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116555270868082482","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=952325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/952326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=952325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=952325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=952325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Westlife's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/3_Screenshot-2026-05-11-081125.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Westlife's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/3_mark-feehily.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1_Screenshot-2026-05-11-081108.jpg\")
<\/p>\n