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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
Entertainment
Frances Kindon

Olly Murs' bitter 14-year feud with twin who cut him off after X Factor snub

For the past 14 years, singing sensation Olly Murs has been harbouring the hurt caused by a split in his once close family.

So deep-rooted is the rift with his twin brother Ben, it dates back almost as long as Olly's fame. Indeed, his rise to stardom caused the bad blood in the first place.

The Mirror reports how growing up, the pair were inseparable - only for a bitter falling out in 2009 just as Olly was finding fame. "We had a big argument," Olly, 38, once shared while working on The Voice.

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Fighting back tears, he continued: "I feel like the next time I am going to see him is going to be at the worst place to see someone. It will be at someone's (funeral) that we lose in the family. I don't want that to be the case.

"I miss having my twin with me... This bond as a twin, it was something I was proud about and I still am."

In 2019, Olly claimed he'd tried to reach out to Ben on their birthday, only to discover he had changed his number without telling him. So what happened to drive the extremely close twins so far apart?

It all kicked off in 2009 when Olly skipped Ben's wedding and best man duties to compete in The X Factor semi-final, prompting his brother to brand him a "self-obsessed sell out".

"Our family was torn apart because of X Factor," Ben raged in 2009. It was clear that people like Simon Cowell were more important to him than me."

Olly confirmed as much on The Voice, telling Will.i.am: "I was on X Factor and I couldn't make his wedding because I was on the show." Asked where his brother lives, he admitted: "I have no idea."

However, Olly previously claimed their relationship had been strained for a long time before the ITV talent show and accused Ben of using the wedding as an "excuse".

Olly shot to fame on X Factor. (ITV)

"I don't speak to my twin brother and that's been extremely difficult. Long before X Factor there were problems between Ben and his girlfriend and our family," he once told the Sunday Times Magazine.

"His wedding was his excuse for not having me in his life anymore... I don't think he ever liked us as a family."

It wasn't just Olly who Ben cut ties with, but also their parents, who Ben claimed had been changed by 'fame and greed'.

Ben was so keen to distance himself that he even took his wife Amy's surname, Hart, and reacted with fury when mum Vicky gave an interview about the 'learning difficulties' he experienced as a child.

Ben raged: "My parents wanted this bright, shiny Olly with the money who can give them the VIP lifestyle. They liked hanging around with Simon Cowell, or going to Bon Jovi concerts – they loved their VIP selfies.

"I'm not interested in anything like that, I have a lovely life with my wife and kids. I've worked hard, been to university and got a degree, I've never wanted anything from Olly.

"I can’t believe what my mum did by talking about my childhood. I was so upset when I read it. Why has my mum, the person who should defend me, said things that are hurtful and untrue?"

For her part, Vicky said the trauma of the fall out left her too sick to work and caused such serious physical symptoms that she thought she had multiple sclerosis.

"It was such a shock it made me ill. I even thought I had MS – I had to use a walking stick because my legs were so weak. I also couldn't work. I was on the verge of a breakdown," she previously told the Sunday Times Magazine.

"I'm much better now but my heart is broken. Ben's broken my heart, and his dad's, but I will not hear anything against him, I don't think he understands what he's done. I'll go on loving him and sticking up for him until I die."

For Ben's part, he said he extended an olive branch to Olly after the birth of his son in 2013, but claimed his estranged sibling told him to delete his number.

Olly branded his claims 'inconsistent'.

Then when he hoped to make peace in 2017, Ben declined, insisting, "I've moved on."

"I wish him all the best. But I've got my life and he's got his. The last time I made contact I got the door slammed in my face," he told the Sunday People.

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