Brian McFadden has said any fights or problems they had in Westlife came when they were tired after working very long days overseas.

But he added that there were never any physical altercations between him and the lads.

Brian said: “Any fights or problems we had in the band were always after working 14 or 15 hours in Asia and we were all knackered.

“It is childish bickering. It is hard enough being on the other side of the world and being tired yourself, but then everyone is fighting with each other because you are all tired.”

However, there were no physical fights. He told Life Magazine: “No. Not fist fights.”

The singer added: “But I’d rather have got a punch, because the actual mental torture of already being so down and so absolutely deprived of sleep and having no energy.

“And then, having the people around you bickering with each other — mentally I would rather get a punch in the face than that.

The never ending workload added to Brian’s decision to quit Westlife in March 2004 and if they had taken a break at the time he might have remained in the band.

He explained: “I was very tired at the time when I left. I still think back to that.”

The father of three added: “I actually spoke to Nicky Byrne a couple of weeks ago. We were talking about that time.

“He said to me: ‘Do you reckon if we had taken a break then that maybe you would have stayed?’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’ If we had taken even three or four months off, my decision probably wouldn’t have happened as quick, because at the time when I left, I just needed a break.

“I needed to just stop. I remember the day. I remember going, ‘Oh, no.’ We had just worked flat-out for like 300 days straight, finished the tour, blah blah blah, and we were in a recording studio in London.