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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Frances Kindon

B*Witched now after nervous breakdown, new careers and downing vodka amid marriage woes

The pioneers of indigo double denim, girl group B*Witched stormed the charts seemingly out of nowhere in the mid-nineties.

Together, twin sisters Edele and Keavy Lynch, Lindsay Armaou and Sinéad O'Carroll became the first band in history to have four debut UK number one singles, and even toured with N Sync and Britney Spears.

Formed in 1997, they achieved worldwide success with hits including C'est la Vie, Rollercoaster, To You I Belong and Blame It on the Weatherman.

For Keavy and the rest of the girls - who are set to perform on This Morning today - it was like living in a dream.

Sinead O'Carroll, Keavy Lynch, Edele Lynch and Lindsay Armaou formed B*Witched in 1997 (WireImage)

"It took us by surprise," Keavy - whose brother is Shane Lynch of Boyzone fame.

"We were just four girls with a little dream in Ireland and suddenly it was like, 'This is actually happening.'"

But despite selling more than three million albums, the group were suddenly dropped by their record company in 2002, leaving the foursome reeling as they tried to come to terms with the shock.

Edele said: "It's indicative of how the industry was. We were dropped after selling an unbelievable amount of records that are really difficult to sell now. People don't sell a tenth of it and still have hits and careers. But it's just how it was."

So what happened next for the group after their traumatic split?

Lindsay Armaou

Lindsay, left, has had a complete change of career (GETTY)

Lindsay, now 44, walked away from the spotlight for seven years before taking acting lessons at The Poor School in London.

In 2013, she appeared in two short films: Threads and Rescue Me. And the following year she starred as Georgina in The Smoke, and played Sonia in 2015's Daisy.

Lindsay also tried her luck on stage in theatre productions such as Ring Round the Moon, Habeas Corpus, The Cherry Orchard and A Christmas Carol.

Lindsay was recently spotted in Netflix drama Stay Close (Netflix)

Most recently, she was spotted by fans in Netflix's popular new series Stay Close.

The drama is based on a novel of the same title by Harlan Coben and stars James Nesbitt and Richard Armitage.

Lindsay married 911 singer Lee Brennan in 2006 but they split five years later.

In October 2015 she married recruitment director Indi Pahl, who she has daughter Sophia Helena Pahl, five, and son, Ayrton, three with.

Edele Lynch

Edele recently unveiled a new sleek blonde look (Instagram)
Edele, bottom, has ditched the brunette locks she shared with twin Keavy, second from top (Getty Images)

Now 42 years old, the Dublin-born star recently changed her trademark brunette locks to blonde, unlike identical twin Keavy, who still has her trademark dark tresses.

Songwriter Edele remained in the music business and co-wrote Some Kind Of Miracle for Girls Aloud's debut album Sound of the Underground.

She has also written tracks for the Sugababes, and formed a duo with Keavy, performing as Ms Lynch and later the Barbarellas between 2009 and 2012.

She appeared on Celebrity Big Brother and won Celebrity Apprentice Ireland in 2013.

But despite her success, Edele found herself in a dark place as her seven-year marriage to Michael Barrett crumbled in 2014.

The mother-of-three admitted doing shots of vodka in a bid to 'take the edge off' the pain, revealing she would pull her hair out and punch herself in the head.

She said: "I was finding it really hard to deal with. I remember waking up every morning just wanting to just even take a few shots of vodka so nobody would smell it on my breath. It would take the edge off and no one would know and I could survive the day easier."

Speaking with her fellow bandmates on their podcast, Starting Over with B*Witched, she told how the incident scared her so much that she never did it again.

But she still had a lot of demons to unpack.

"I was very frustrated as well because all I felt like doing was just screaming and shouting and there's so much anger and turmoil inside you – like where does that go?" she said.

"On reflection it was self-harm. I started pulling my hair, pulling my hair out, punching myself in the head so nobody would notice the bruises or punching myself where people wouldn't see and at the time that was all just a way of trying to cope for me and I didn't see it for what it was at the time, but I was just drowning. Completely drowning."

Edele has also retrained as an actor, but was forced to take an admin job during lockdown just to make ends meet.

Appearing on Virgin Media One's Elaine Show, she said: "Truthfully just to pay the bills, I've actually taken an admin job for the past year.

"We literally have nothing on the go and no support at all in our industry. I have three children and so I have to be realistic and bring some kind of pennies through the door. I'm an admin whizz at the minute!"

Sinead O'Carroll

B*Witched pose at the Sunset Marquis in Los Angeles 24th March 1999 (John Chapple / Splash News)

By her own admission, by the time the band ended, Sinead was ready to settle down, get married and start a family anyway.

Sinead, 49, tied the knot with Mike Rahman in June 2006, and welcomed son, Blake, and a daughter, Samarah.

But while her home life was ticking along nicely, the star realised that the time had come to do something about her mental health.

For years during the band and after, she suffered from phobias that were so severe that they stopped her sleeping. As a child she would wake up terrified in the middle of the night, convinced that someone was going to break in.

As an adult, her anxiety manifested itself as a fear of dogs, amongst other things. And when she suffered a miscarriage, things only escalated.

Sinead took part in Ireland's Dancing With the Stars (RTÉ ONE)
She used her new techniques to calm her nerves (Kyran O'Brien)

Sinead told the Irish Sunday Mirror: "I hated staying in hotels by myself. I don't feel safe, I always would knock on Edele's door and say, 'can I bunk in here?'

"It was like I was up all night, then going to bed, travelling home and schoolhouse and kids. By Wednesday I would be in bits.

"I just felt uneasy all the time."

Someone suggested that she should try EFT - emotional freedom techniques - a move which changed her life.

The technique involves acupressure and repeating affirmations to calm the nerves.

"I went for three EFT sessions and I found it incredible. You go on a journey with your phobia or fear and it gives you the power over it," she explained.

"I do distance healing for the B*witched girls. Years ago when I first got into it, the girls would ring me up about stuff, but we're all deep thinkers really.

"It's my only other interest, we're all constantly changing, we're alway all on a self awareness journey and nobody has it all worked out, I love numerology too."

Keavy Lynch

Keavy took the split hard, with Sinead telling the Irish Mirror how her bandmate suffered a 'nervous breakdown'.

Speaking about the terrifying chapter, Keavy, 43, told how she often couldn't find the energy to get out of bed after years of feeling like she was in her twin sister's 'shadow'.

"I went through severe depression. For the first two years I just sat on my sofa and cried nearly every day," Keavy told the Daily Star Sunday in 2007. "I had no motivation and just felt awful about the whole thing. A lot of days I literally didn't want to get out of bed.

"Up until last year I was really messed up. I didn't like myself. I didn't know who I was and I just could not get to grips with myself. It was horrible. I thought about ending it all. But I would never do that to my family and friends."

Keavy eventually got the help she needed and now runs her own private counselling practice in London for survivors of rape and sexual violence.

She married husband Nathaniel Comer in May 2017 and they are parents to daughter Freya, five, and two-year-old twins Felix and Elàna.

* If you're struggling and need to talk, the Samaritans operate a free helpline open 24/7 on 116 123. Alternatively, you can email jo@samaritans.org or visit their site to find your local branch

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