OPENING UP
‘I was groped by a woman in her thirties when I was 17’ reveals Five’s Ritchie as he says being in band was like prison
Ritchie also claims bosses refused to allow him to rest when he was sick
RITCHIE Neville has revealed he was groped by a woman in her thirties when he was just 17 during his time in boyband Five.
The singer, 45, shot to fame with Five in the Nineties and they enjoyed huge success until their split in 2001.
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But Ritchie has recalled a dark side to boyband fame and revealed an uncomfortable experience with a female fan.
Speaking to The Guardian, he said: "While we were doing the picture, she just grabbed me down there like it was perfectly normal. I was like, ''What are you doing?"
"The thing is, a lot of guys would be like, 'What I wouldn't give for that!'
"But it's not always pleasant, if you don't ask for it. It's like, 'Why are you doing that? Please don't do it again'."
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Five - made up of Ritchie, Sean Conlon, Scott Robinson, Abz Love and J Brown - launched in 1997 with their debut single Slam Dunk (Da Funk).
They achieved huge international success and even managed to make waves in the US.
But Ritchie insisted that at times being in the group was like being in prison.
Recalling the time he caught chickenpox while Five were touring Australia and New Zealand, he claimed his record label refused to let him fly home to rest.
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He said: "In the end, they wouldn't give me my passport to fly home.
"Scott had to go in and nick my passport and just hand it to me and bundle me in a taxi at four in the morning.
"At the time, I didn't think that much of it. Now, that's an encroachment of power, isn't it really? It's almost imprisonment."
Following the band's split in 2001 Ritchie, Scott, Sean and Abz got back together to take part in ITV's The Big Reunion.
In 2014 Abz left the group and in 2022 they released their first album as a trio, Time.
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