Originally from Sligo town, Kian Egan bought his parents a house in Strandhill with his first Westlife pay cheque when he was 21 and has since returned to the village to live with his wife and kids.

“I bought a family home for my mum and dad. I have three brothers and three sisters so there are seven of us. We had a niece living with us at the time. I was like, ‘look we are all crammed into this little three-bedroom house, I’ve made money, let’s buy a house,’” he tells us.

Kian and his wife, Jodi, followed suit and moved from London to Strandhill, deciding it was the best place to raise their children, Kao and Zeke. “We live at the foot of a mountain and between us and the mountains is two fields and the sea is in front of us – it is beautiful. It is very picturesque.

Family

“We know it is better for our family and that is very much what it is about for us now, it is about family and bringing our kids up there and showing them that life. Then when they get older, I’m sure they will want to go to a big city.

“Hopefully we will have given them enough tools to show them [that they should] get out of the city before they have their own family,” he laughs.

Kian describes his life as mellow and chilled compared with ten years ago when he was busy making 14 UK number one hit singles and selling over 11.1m albums.

“I give out about getting on an aeroplane nowadays, where getting on aeroplanes was like getting into a car back in them days,” he remembers.

With a third baby on the way for the couple in September, those days are becoming distant memories.

That doesn’t stop him and his bandmates reminiscing on old times when they get together, though a reunion is not on the cards he says.

Full of energy and chat, it makes sense why this 37-year-old says had he not joined the band he still would have pushed to be in the entertainment industry.

“My first time I was on a stage I was four – I wanted to be on that stage. I had an ear infection and my mother didn’t want me to go. It was the Feis and I had to get up there and I had to say my poem,” he recalls.

“It was called The Vespers and I won and I got my little trophy and that was it for me.”

This early wish to entertain can also help explain all he has done since the band years, which started when he entered and won I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here in 2013.

“In the back of my brain the jungle was something I always wanted to do but what came off the back of that I never expected. I did a solo album, The Voice of Ireland went for five years, I was doing TV presenting in the UK, I was doing all of these big gigs and I was doing a lot of touring.

FULFILLED

“I was doing a lot as an individual and stuff I never expected to do as an individual so from that perspective, I feel very fulfilled in that world.”

Kian has taken a step back from the public eye since The Voice finished last year and is focusing on being a dad and surfing.

“I was playing golf with my dad one day and looking out at the surf and I tried it and got hooked and here I am. For 14 years I have been very much chasing surfing and very much annoying my wife with ‘I want to go surfing, I want to go surfing and take the kids,’” he laughs.

For his love of catching waves and his appreciation of beaches Kian has become an ambassador for Coca-Cola Clean Coasts Week, which is a week-long campaign from 2-11 June that aims to create awareness about keeping the beaches of Ireland clean.

“If you are on a beach for a walk and see a wrapper, pick it up. Don’t just leave it there and let it get into the sea and harm marine life,” Kian urges.CL