During his appearance on the Lorraine TV show, Barlow said he "was trying to kill off the popstar" in him amidst his weight issues and rivalry with former bandmate Robbie Williams, reported dailymail.co.uk.

He said, "Nine years (I stopped singing). Just turned my back on it. I was trying to kill off the popstar, that's what I was doing.

"I was eating away what a popstar looked like. I was just killing him off. Stopped dying the hair, stopped buying nice clothes, just wanted to look the opposite, physically and mentally."

Years later, the Back for good hitmaker managed to shed the weight, after meeting diet gurus Melissa and Jasmine Hemsley.

"It was the day when I just went, 'No, I'm not having this anymore, I'm going to change. I want to change and I'm determined that this is not who I've become.'

"It only took a few years to get that low, but it took me years to get back to who I wanted to be. 10 years probably," he added.

(Source: IANS)