GARY Barlow was grilled on his historic X Factor feud with fellow mentor Tulisa Contostavlos, revealing the real reason he hit back with his savage putdown.
The Take That singer was a judge on the ITV reality show from 2011 to 2013, stepping in as Simon Cowell’s replacement at the time.
Aiding Gary in his quest to find the next big popstar were fellow mentors Louis Walsh, Nicole Scherzinger and Tulisa.
And it was the latter who he exchanged a war of words with in the 2012 series that continues to live on as an iconic TV spat.
At the time, Gary was mentor to contestant Christopher Maloney and the Over 25s category.
One live episode saw Christopher put on a dramatic rendition of Cutting Crew’s (I Just) Died in Your Arms – but the performance wasn’t to everyone’s liking.
Tulisa took aim at Gary for the song choice, as she moaned that the boyband legend was pigeon-holing Christopher with too many cheesy 80s tracks.
“You do the same thing with him over and over again with him,” she told Gary. “It’s not working.”
To which he replied: “Tulisa I don’t know what’s offended me more, what you’ve said or the fag ash breath.”
Tulisa was visibly shocked by the remark at the time, staring open mouthed down the lens of the camera.
Thirteen years on, the X Factor feud was revisited during a Capital FM interview with Gary, as DJ Chris Stark asked: “What did actually offend you more, what Tulisa said or her fag ash breath?”
A chuckling Gary replied: “What she said. Poor Tulisa! Oh bless her.”
The Rule the World hitmaker’s response was met with laughter from co-presenters Jordan North and Sian Welby, clearly remembering the historic reality TV moment.
Shared on the radio station’s socials, amused fans were quick to react to the clip with one penning “Love this” and another writing “This is SO funny”.
Even Christopher Maloney – who later finished third on the show – weighed in on the feud, commenting: “Lol it was about ME!”
Gary has been promoting a new three-part Take That documentary series on Netflix featuring never-before-seen footage of the boyband as they ascended from regular joes to global superstars.
The 55-year-old has been recently candid about the struggles he faced dealing with the sudden rise to fame – and the unhealthy way he dealt with it at the time.
“There was a period of 13 months where I didn’t leave the house once. I’d also started to put weight on,” he told The Sun.
“The more weight I put on, the less people would recognise me and I thought, ‘This is good. This is what I have been waiting for. This is a normal life’.
“So I went on this mission then, if the food went past me I would just eat it. And I’d killed the pop star.
“I would have these nights and I would eat and eat and eat but however I felt about myself, I felt ten times worse the day after.”
At his heaviest, Gary, who has three children with his wife Dawn, weighed just over 17st.
He explained: “One day, I thought, ‘I have been out, it’s ten o’clock, I have eaten too much, I need to get rid of this food’.
“You just go off to a dark corner of the house and you make yourself sick. You think it’s only once, then all of a sudden you’re walking down that corridor again and again.
“Is this it? Is this what I am going to be doing forever?”
By 2003, Gary turned his life around, and he said: “I just went, ‘No, I’m not having this any more.
“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. Ten years probably.”
Gary has a healthier relationship with food these days and looks after himself to keep touring with bandmates Mark Owen and Howard Donald.
The boys are gearing up for the return of The Circus Live this summer, kicking off at St Mary’s Stadium in Southampton on 29 May.
