Mark Feehily: Westlife star shares rare health update amid boyband's 25th anniversary plans in 2026

The 45-year-old musician has been forced to step back from his role in the band in recent years due to health issues, which have seen him hospitalised and taken to intensive care. IN 2020 he contracted sepsis following a routine surgery before contracting pneumonia in 2021 which led to him undergoing multiple surgeries to address complications from his illness.

Fans had been hopeful that Mark would make a return to the stage as Westlife set out to celebrate their 25th anniversary with a number of shows in 2026.

Sharing a post on instagram, Mark revealed that he would be hosting a handful of special shows on irish radio station RTE Radio 1 over New Year. However, he confirmed that he would not be joining the rest of the band on tour in 2026.

Mark said: “Heya! A little message from me to you from the heart. It’s been so long, sorry about the lack of posting… I’ve missed ya! It’s been quite difficult to watch my band’s big World Tour launch knowing I won’t be able to be there with you all to join the party.

“However, it’s been really amazing to see our band still flying so high, and the incredible global support that’s still there for us. YOUR support!

“That same phenomenal support you have blessed us with from day ONE in Sligo back in the late 90s & as we slowly but surely went on to build the Westlife legacy piece by piece for over 3 decades, literally thousands of days and nights together on stage and in studios and on trains, planes and automobiles, is something that blows my mind to this day, something I am so proud to be a part of.”

He said that the 25th Anniversary tour show would be “a really special celebration” but conceded that he wasn't quite ready to take the stage, adding: “All of this really drives home the honest truth that I’m simply not ready to take on a massive world tour yet.

“My body and my mind need time. However, thankfully, sitting in a chair to do a radio show is a completely different physical and mental demand to doing a massive world tour and I feel very lucky to be able to do this new @rteradio1 show. It’s not quite a stadium show but it’s a HUGE deal and achievement for me! Right now, to sit back and do absolutely nothing would make things much worse for me both medically and emotionally – so here goes!”

Westlife, made up of Shane Filan, Nicky Byrne, and Kian Egan, will head out on a world tour in September 2026. They will perform 13 dates in Dublin before heading to the UK for a series of shows in London, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, Brighton, Bournemouth, Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester and Belfast. They will round out the tour in Europe, with dates set for Paris, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Stockholm,Oslo, Amsterdam, Koln, and Zurich.