Olly Murs made the admission while talking to Abbey Clancy and Peter Crouch on The Therapy Crouch podcast, confessing that he’d been reflecting on his childhood after falling out with his twin brother
Olly Murs (right) with his twin brother Ben Murs. (Image: No credit)
Olly Murs has made a rare admission about his estranged twin brother, confessing that it was “quite special growing up”. The ‘Troublemaker’ singer made the confession on The Therapy Crouch podcast with Abbey Clancy and Peter Crouch in August. He discussed his brother, Ben, with whom he reportedly fell out after missing his wedding to compete in The X Factor in 2009.
The pop star, who welcomed a son named Albert in September (his second child with wife Amelia), chatted about his new arrival. The conversation led to the topic of “Irish twins”, a term for siblings born less than 12 months apart.
This prompted Olly to reveal that he’s a twin himself, but he emphasised that he and his brother haven’t “spoken for a long time”.
He said: “Well, I’m a twin, I’m a twin. Yeah, no one ever…I mean, yeah, me and my brother. Yeah, we haven’t spoken for a long time, but yeah, we were twins growing up, yeah.”
Realising his mistake, Olly humorously clarified their relationship: “I say, ‘We were twins’; we’re still twins, but no, we…”, before Abbey asked if they were identical.
Olly and Amelia went public with their relationship in 2020 and got married two years later (Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images for evian)
He responded: “No, different eggs, yeah. Amazing, yeah. So, very special; twins are amazing. Like, when I look back at it, it was quite special growing up.”
Olly rarely discusses the falling out with his brother, which reportedly saw Ben branding him a “self-obsessed sell out” after Olly missed his wedding, where he was set to be best man.
Speaking to the Sunday People in 2009, Ben said: “Our family was torn apart because of X Factor. It was clear that people like Simon Cowell were more important to him than me.”
Meanwhile, Olly addressed his absence from the wedding on The Voice, emotionally telling fellow coach Will.i.am (of Black Eyed Peas fame): “I was on X Factor and I couldn’t make his wedding because I was on the show.”
Olly admitted that he and his brother hadn’t “spoken for a long time”
(Image: Ryan Jenkinson | Manchester Evening News)
In other news, Olly recently admitted that the “honeymoon period’s definitely gone” in his marriage, “but in a fun way”. The 41-year-old, who tied the knot with Amelia Tank in 2022, noted a change in tone with his new album.
He shared: “I wrote an album three years ago, and it was the Marry Me album. It was when we had no children, so it was like a honeymoon period. So it was like: ‘Oh, I love you. You’re amazing. You’re incredible’.
“This album, I was able to be a little bit more cheekier with it. So when people hear it, the honeymoon period’s definitely gone, but in a fun way. We’re talking about other things in the music, but still celebrating my love for her.”
You can catch Olly on Saturday Kitchen Live on BBC One today (Saturday, November 15), from 10am to 11.30am.
