is that he 'hates' what his alcoholic overindulgence and subsequent shagathons has done to his relationship with his wife. Apparently a woman with whom he had conducted a five-year affair (at the same time as starting a family with his girlfriend/wife) was planning a kiss-and-tell, so he fessed up to that (That?) and numerous other one-night flings.
Marriage is now in deep doo-doo. He doesn't come out well from this, but to his credit, he's coruscatingly honest and self-loathing in assuming complete responsibility for his actions.

Not that I've read much about it, like.

on behalf of the 'That camp. Their audience is composed mainly of thirtysomething Mums, who presumably take a dim view of this sort of thing. MO fessing up now and blaming it all on the demon drink is presumably designed to deflect some of the flak?

such a nice, wholesome boy.

I took it to be Michael Owen and thought it would explain his groin strain...

In the same week that Heat magazine runs with a relationship quiz in which getting the perfect score means "You are married to Mark Owen".

You couldn't make it up...

spent the last month castigating "that scum John Terry" and now cutesy Mark from Ver That has been caught with his trousers down suddenly she's quiet on infidelity, funny that!

..that had this to say on the different treatments of the two stories, which I thought rang very true...

"So, over the last two days we've had a masterclass in dealing with a potentially life-destroying news story from Mark Owen.

Turns out the little quiet one from Take That has been an alcoholic for the last ten years and in the time he's been with his wife, Emma Ferguson, has managed to have around ten one night stands and an affair that lasted on and off for five years. We know this because he confessed all to said wife on Wednesday afternoon, before getting on the blower to The Sun's Gordon Smart for a chat about it all.

--
Mark had to speak to Gordon so he could let him know how very sorry he is about everything, how he wants to get off the booze and how he hopes he and Emma can work things out.

Now, obviously Mark didn't want to confess all to The Sun, they presumably made the first call, to let him know they already had these revelations from another source (the five year lover was reportedly ready to sell her story).

But going into confessional mode and getting his PR people on the case was definitely the right response, rather than handing the matter to his lawyers, as that ball kicking chap John Terry did. When the footballer tried to use the law to cover up his one affair it back fired horribly, leading to weeks of media outrage and public condemnation, and to Terry losing his job as England captain as a result.
Mark, on the other hand, gets a non-judgemental Sun write up where he is allowed to fully explain himself and repeat again and again how sorry he is about his actions. The story has been widely picked up by other media in a similar fashion, but will probably slip away in a week or so. The Sun themselves have helped in that regard by saving their story about Robbie Williams recording new songs with Take That for today - a nice quick distraction.

Of course what this means for Owen's marriage is another matter - gossipers are saying she's kicked him out of their home. But in terms of his public reputation, he's going to come out of this as well as could expected. Which means that, for any unfaithful popstars reading, the whole Marky episode is how you handle a bad media story. They should stick it in the textbook."

She's been in love with him since she was about fifteen. She's now thirty two. She is, understandably, devastated about the whole thing. She thought Mark was a nice boy. She met him at a low-key Pompey gig about eight years ago.

If she'd have known he was up for a bit of extramaritals, she'd have stuck her knickers in his pocket and left him her number.

She's been in a filthy mood the last two days.

If millions of women wanted to get it on with me, and I had an endless supply of very expensive Champagne and presumably pretty much anything else I wanted on tap...I'd be kind of tempted too. Why we expect our boy band members and footballers to live like Trappist Monks I don't know.

Pop stars nowadays just aren't the same are they?

Apart from stating the obvious about being amazed that the little bleeder has it in him,I can hardly work up enough interest to not give a f*ck.It's the same old muck-raking bullshit that just makes me ever more convinced that my decision to never buy or read a newspaper was the correct one.

...was that he was the 'nice' one in Take That. He wasn't the most talented member (that was Gary), nor the best singer (Robbie), nor the best dancer (Jason) - Mark was the cute, dependable one whose personal life was unsullied by low morality and excess, making him the one that teenage girls (and later, middle-aged women) would like to marry. With these recent revelations, he stands revealed as another rapidly-ageing former teen idol with a so-so voice who can't keep it in his pants.

... that he was gay, must be getting my boy bands mixed up.

Anyway, I feel most sorry for his wife in all this. If he has a drink problem, hope he gets the help he needs - but have little sympathy if it ruins his career. Sadly though, it's more likely to improve it. No publicity is bad publicity, as they say...

why has it only come to light when the affairs have come up? If he's been drinking, then it's been going on a while - surely ( I don't know, and don't want to sound glib about alcoholism) his Missus must have twigged something was wrong with him? Why hasn't he been carted off to the Priory sooner? He always gave (IMHO) the impression he was more of a doobie sort-of-fella rather than a creme-de-menthe guzzler.
The Priory is a smart move. "Seeking help" is a great euphemism. Where are the rest of the boys in all of this?