Mark Feehily was ''rescued'' by Boy George.

The former Westlife singer admits he took it hard when the band split in 2012 but the 'Karma Chameleon' hitmaker was able to pull him out of ''genuine depression''.

He shared: ''I was lying in my bed for days on end, genuinely depressed for a long time. It's nothing to be ashamed of but it's still not easy to say out loud. I was low - I was losing it for a bit.''

Trying his luck after the pair swapped numbers at a chance meeting, the 35-year-old singer decided to send Boy George a clip of him covering a track from the star's musical 'Taboo'.

He explained to The Sun newspaper: ''I was expecting him to come back and say it was s**t, 'How dare you'. But he sent me this huge, long email back saying, 'Oh my God, I'm sitting in my kitchen crying, listening to your voice. You've got an amazing voice'.

''It gave me that big boost of confidence to go into my solo career. If someone like him can think that - then f**k it, I'm going to go for it. He rescued me from the brink.''