Gary Barlow is a ''nightmare'' husband and a ''dreadful'' bandmate.

The 49-year-old singer admitted his ''drive'' and constant need to be on the go is difficult for his loved ones, particularly his wife of 20 years, Dawn, and his Take That bandmates because he is such a ''pain'' about always wanting to plan new projects.

He said: ''I'm a nightmare husband. I'm just so... driven.

''I always need to be doing something, planning something, putting 'just one more project' in the diary. I don't stop. I can laugh about it now, but I'm also a dreadful person to be in a band with.

''In fact, you really don't want to be near me at all. I'm a dreadful pain...

''I'm difficult. Dawn is extremely laidback, whereas I'm not at all. She has zero interest in a celebrity lifestyle, going out, having her photo taken. She would absolutely hate to do what I do, and we've definitely had our ups and downs, but the simple fact of why we are together is because we love each other.''

But the coronavirus pandemic has given Gary - who has children Daniel, 20, Emily, 18, and Daisy, 11, with Dawn - the opportunity to slow down, though it was ''bleak and frightening'' at first.

He said: ''Of course it has been terrible, people have died, people are losing their jobs, but for me personally, lockdown was about being given this time to think about things, to work out where you are, where you are going, and to have time with the people you love.

''It was all very bleak and frightening at first. I worried about my mum because she's on her own in Cheshire, but my brother Ian was nearby.

''I worried about Dawn because she has type-1 diabetes, so we had to be super-careful, spraying all the packages that came in.

''We went through the A-level horror with Emily, which then turned out all right once the Government went back to teachers' predictions, and we had homeschooling with Daisy, which was a complete disaster. That was tough on the parents and the kids.''

However, some aspects of the situation have been ''marvellous'' for Gary and he believes he's now much closer to his Take That bandmates, Mark Owen, Howard Donald and occasional member Robbie Williams, and enjoyed the opportunity to bond with his kids.

He told Telegraph magazine: ''But other things were marvellous. Me, Rob, Mark and Howard talked all the time, checking in on each other, having a laugh.

''I think we are genuinely closer than we ever have been because we've spent so much time just being together - even if it was remotely.

''We had Daniel home from uni, which was great. We did our training together and I got to hang out with my boy and my girls. The joy of it was being together, sharing the cooking - even the dogs were happy because we were all at home.''