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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Courtney Pochin & Frances Kindon

Take That star Mark Owen's new look and epic bounce-back life after rehab

To celebrate the King's Coronation, a number of stars will be performing at a special concert at Windsor Castle on Sunday, May 7 and the line-up includes Take That.

The band rose to fame in the early 90s and famously split in 1996 and since then the members have all been on rather different paths.

Mark Owen's life, in particular, took a rather bumpy course when the band ended, with the heartthrob from Greater Manchester reeling from the loss of his bandmates, Gary Barlow, Jason Orange, Howard Donald, and Robbie Williams.

He embarked on a solo career, desperate to prove he was more than just a "pretty face" and vowed not to wash or shave for nine months while working on his own music.

However, his first album, Green Man, only ranked at number 33 in the charts, which was a big blow for the star.

Take That star Mark, centre, has started fresh after hitting a rough patch (WireImage)

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed with the chart position," he told The Mirror at the time.

"I made a point of saying I didn't care if people liked my solo stuff. But I knew it was b******s. I can pretend all day that I don't care but I do, very much."

It was around this time that he said his problems first started. He began drinking every night all alone, finishing bottles of wine while at a £300,000 property he'd purchased in the Lake District.

"When I was up in the Lakes, living there for all those years on my own, I used to just drink every night," he told The Sun.

He made another return to the spotlight in 2002, taking part in Celebrity Big Brother and coming in second place. He was also invited to perform with former bandmate Robbie at Knebworth.

Things also seemed to be improving for Mark when he began dating actress Emma Ferguson, and in 2005, Take That - minus Robbie - reunited for the explosive documentary, Take That: For The Record.

The documentary renewed interest in the band and they reunited as a foursome, without Robbie, to release a comeback album, Beautiful World, which featured hits such as Patience and Shine.

Things only seemed to be on the up for Mark, as he and Emma welcomed two children - a son named Elwood who was born after 18 months together and a daughter named Willow in 2008.

In 2009 the pair tied the knot in a fairytale ceremony at Cawdor Church in the Scottish Highlands.

However, it was all a bit too good to be true, and in 2010 Mark gave a shocking interview in which he admitted to cheating on Emma with at least 10 other women.

He confessed to cheating on wife Emma multiple times (Getty Images)

Mark told how his longest affair was with accounts manager Neva Hanley, who he met on the platform at Preston train station around the same time he first met Emma.

Their fling lasted four and a half years and he confessed to sleeping with her a week after the birth of his daughter and ended things after spending the night together at a hotel in London just a month before his wedding.

Devastated, Emma threw him out and removed her wedding ring, while Mark entered rehab to get help for alcohol abuse.

He told The Sun: "I have had issues for a long time. I've drunk for the last 10 years and it got to a bad point.

"I never really saw the problem. I carried on drinking through my relationship with Emma and it got to the point where she asked me to stop.

"I have been a prat. I wasn't thinking – I don't think logically when I'm drunk. I'm not the person I want to be when I'm drunk. I can be a nightmare to live with."

He added that he wasn't trying to 'use the drink as an excuse' but explained that part of his drinking was a was to 'deal with the guilt'.

Take That are just a trio now, consisting ofGary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen (Getty)

Despite all that happened, Mark and Emma later rekindled their relationship and had a third child, a daughter named Fox, who was born in 2012.

The family have quit life in London and at their £6.5million country pile in Hampshire to start a new life in California, where Mark is said to be a regular at pal Robbie's pad.

Since then, Mark has continued touring with Take That and also released more solo music, with his fifth solo album, Land OF Dreams reaching number three on the UK Album Download and Sales Chart.

Following the album launch, the star debuted a drastic new look, with a bold moustache that took fans by surprise.

BBC Breakfast co-host Sally Nugent seemed taken aback when he debuted his makeover while promoting his album.

"Actually, you look different. The moustache; how long's that been there?" she asked him.

Mark says his kids don't like his new look (BBC)

Explaining he'd been rocking it on and off for four years, he said: "It started off as a beard and then my beard goes a bit patchy on [one] side.

"[The beard] can get a bit sweaty on tour. So then it became a moustache and it sort of stuck."

However, he shared that his three kids aren't keen on his transformation and have begged him to get rid. of it.

"My children keep threatening to clip it off," he added, before admitting he has no choice but to keep it as it's on all the artwork for the album.

"I can't change the look! I've done the video. I can't change my look now," he insisted.

Mark and his stache will be seen performing with his Take That bandmates Gary Barlow and Howard Donald at the Coronation Concert, alongside other big names like Lionel Richie and Katy Perry.

The band are also scheduled to perform a large show headlining BST Hyde Park on July 1, with special guests The Script and Sugababes.

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