Barry Gibb was scarred into silence by childhood scalding.

The former Bee Gees legend was ''very badly'' burnt after an accident at home with a ''pot of boiling water'' and revealed he didn't speak for two years because of the trauma.

Speaking to the Mail on Sunday newspaper's Event magazine, he said: ''[As a child] I was very quiet. At the age of two I was very baldly scalded by a pot of boiling water on a table.

''I was toddling along and grabbed it, and it went all over me. I have memory of it happening; I wiped it out as it was so traumatic.

''I never spoke for two years after that. I was in hospital for most of that time and I think it made me a very shy boy.''

Although the 66-year-old musician did overcome his shyness, he admitted he is still ''emotionally wired'' and breaks down easily, particularly since the deaths of his brothers and band mates Maurice - who died a decade ago - and Robin, who passed away last year.

He added: ''I cry at the drop of a hat. If I'm watching a sad movie or TV show, I sit with a towel on my lap because I cry so much.

''I came back to Australia recently, for the first time without my brothers. A local reporter showed me a copy of our first television appearance and I started blubbering. I can't help it - I'm emotionally wired.''

The Bee Gees' youngest sibling Andy had his own solo career, but his death five days after his 30th birthday in 1988 is one of Barry's biggest regrets.

He revealed: ''I regret losing my brother Andy when he was just 30. None of my brothers made the age of retirement except for me. It's a poignant thing for my mother to have outlived three of her sons.''