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          There’s a greyness to his skin that comes when people haven’t slept for weeks. He looks like a ghost of Louis Walsh, and at least two stone thinner.
We sit down and he confirms that it’s true. “None of my clothes fit me, and I didn’t get to sleep till around 3.30am and I’d taken a sleeping pill.”
All this is a result of him being falsely accused by a 24-year-old man of sexual assault in a Dublin nightclub at the end of June. The man has since been arrested and charged with making false accusations, but not before Louis Walsh’s name was on the front page of The Sun and on Sky News and all over the world linked to this heinous offence.
“It’s had the worst effect of anything in my life. I haven’t got over it. I have flashbacks in the middle of the night thinking about what could have happened if the police hadn’t cleared me in a few days. The Sun called me and told me that they had this front page story on me even though I’d told them it was all untrue.
“Somebody I don’t even know and I’m front page news and it’s picked up all over the world. I could have lost my job. I could have lost everything. All I have is my name. It’s all I’ve ever worked for.
“The police sorted it out within three days but the whole thing has made me so wary of everybody and everything. I haven’t been to any gigs. I didn’t go to Oxygen and I didn’t see Prince last week, All the things I would have done normally. And I don’t ever want to go to a nightclub again. I’ve developed a fear of nightclubs and people coming up to me.”
He stares into his cappuccino not even wanting to eat lunch. This is not the Louis Walsh I know who always is up for going out, having fun. I first met him at a party for Westlife, who he manages, long before he was an X Factor judge. In all those years I’ve never known him be miserable. He’s never had an emotional problem. He’s never been sad. To be around him is usually a tonic to pull anyone out of feeling miserable. He’s always got something that he’s excited about and hilarious tales, most recently of Jedward, the terrible Irish twins that he manages and gave a life after X Factor to. In fact they’re the only people in Ireland who are making money. They’ve just closed a huge deal to be on the new Celebrity Big Brother. It’s completely shocking to see him like this.
He was at Dublin Airport sitting in the lounge that day in June when he got a call from a journalist telling him about the story they had. He denied it immediately and got on the plane to Heathrow - he was appearing with his new girl band Wonderland on the Alan Carr Show. On the flight he couldn’t stop thinking about it. He called his long time publicist Sara Lee to meet him at the show. He now doesn’t remember anything about the Alan Carr show he’d got into such a state.
“That night I had to stay at the Kensington Hotel. I knew I was going to be in the paper the next day and I thought how am I going to do this. This is the end of my life. I’m going to be ruined. I might as well take a whole bottle of pills. I did think that. I swear on my mother’s life it was bad.
“Sara Lee was with me so I couldn’t let her go. She stayed in the bed with me that night. I was having a panic attack that was the worst thing ever so I couldn’t let her go. I don’t know what would have happened. I’ll never forget it that night, and I’ll never want to stay in that hotel room again. I want a front page apology from The Sun. I just want this over and done with. It’s the worst thing that’s happened to me in my whole life. Nothing could ever be as bad.”
I tell him, but you could be gravely ill. Surely that would be worse. “No. I could cope with that. But this has mentally and physically ****** me totally.”
He can’t talk for legal reasons about several aspects of the story because he is suing the paper that printed it. He has assembled a top legal team. “I was totally innocent of everything yet I was a front page news story that damaged my reputation. I didn’t sleep for a whole week. I didn’t eat for a week. I didn’t watch TV. I couldn’t read the papers because I was in the papers every day. I just wanted to hide.”
He cancelled going to Elton John’s White Tie And Tiara Ball. At Elton’s Oscar party in February Louis and I were practically the last ones to leave. We were having a laugh, something which is now completely stripped from his life.
“Elton John rang me the following morning and said that the Sun did a similar thing to him and that I must fight to clear my name and that’s what I’m going to do. They cannot make up stories like that. I feel sick all the time. I can’t eat and I can’t enjoy myself. It makes me question everything I read about people in the papers.”
Initially he was worried about what his family and what his 81-year-old mother would make of it. “My mother, my family, everybody was great. Everybody knew it was untrue but still…”
You see the pain in his eyes. Something utterly untrue. His word against a front page story. “Simon (Cowell) was incredibly supportive and Elton. To have someone like him lift up the phone and take the time for me was a really nice thing. Simon was on the phone to me all week, and Sharon (Osbourne) and Dannii (Minogue) and Cheryl (Cole). Now I totally get what Cheryl goes through when you read things in the paper that are not true about yourself. ITV were very keen to know when I would be cleared. Obviously X Factor is a family show and I could have lost my job…
“X Factor, I don’t know what I’d do without it.” By this he means he probably wouldn’t leave the house. Throwing himself into a new regime there of much “tougher” judges has been the only thing that’s taken his mind off the trauma. “I’m staying in and watching Nurse Jackie and Dexter and Damages. I don’t even go to restaurants any more. It’s lucky that I’m doing the X Factor.”
Is it hard to adjust to new people? “It’s totally different. A different energy. I miss Simon obviously. I miss the banter between us. We were like Laurel and Hardy. But these new judges are good.
“Kelly Rowland is like an athlete. She trains for the whole thing. In the morning she’ll train her vocal chords.” To be a judge? “Yes. She’s a proper singer. She’s from a proper band (Destiny’s Child) and she likes to train.
“Then we’ve got Gary Barlow who’s written some of my favourite songs. He’s probably playing the Simon role more than anybody else. But he’s himself. And he too is a singer in one of the biggest bands.
“And then we’ve got Tulisa from N-Dubz. I sit besides her and I thought she was going to be an absolute nightmare…” Is she your new best friend? “Yes. I feel so at ease talking to her. You don’t have to massage her ego. She gets it. I think people are going to be surprised by her.
“I think Dannii and Cheryl will be missed initially because people know them as characters, but then they’re going to be surprised. This could be the best X Factor ever. The girls this year are incredible. “
For a moment it’s the old Louis, excited. And then he recalls. “One big pop star was at American Idol and had his picture taken with somebody who said they were a fan and turned out to be a big drug dealer. Everyone has a camera phone and can take your picture. When you go out you get your picture taken thousands of times. You’re in the middle of people. They’re there as if they know me.”
Louis has always been very open about that sort of thing. I remember going to a U2 gig with him at Croke Park, Dublin. He must have had his picture taken 50 times in 100 yards and he never thought twice about it.
“That was my number one rule to my bands. Be nice to everybody. You have to be accessible. And now I’m scared. Everybody had my phone number. Now I have a new phone. I thought I could trust everybody. All I wanted to do is work in this business because I love it and have a normal life. The price you pay for being in the public eye is you are public property. I was talking to Cheryl about this. I know exactly what Cheryl felt like. There were photographers outside the hotel, at the airport, outside my house. It was the scariest thing. Up until this I didn’t realise the pressure. I’ve never had a minder with me and now I will not go anywhere without someone. Cheryl invited me to her birthday party. I just couldn’t go.
“There was an invitation for her to come back to the UK X Factor but I don’t think there would have been the same dynamic if Simon wasn’t there. They had a Sonny and Cher thing going on. I think she did the right thing by not coming back. I’d love to see her perform on the show. I only wish her well and if she’s happy with Ashley people should leave them alone. She’s in the papers every day with every move she makes. I know Ashley and I’ve seen another side to him and I like him. Everybody thinks he’s a bad boy. I think he loves Cheryl and she loves him.
“It’s a tough business. Especially for girls because there’s always a new girl coming along. It’s tough to survive. It’s important that she keeps herself happy. It’s her life.
“As for Dannii, I think the baby has changed her life an awful lot. When the dates changed it didn’t work with her Australian show and I think she likes Australia more than anything. It took me a long time to get to know her, but when I did I thought she was really really great.”
For a whole year he was wary of Dannii because he wanted to be loyal who spectacularly fell out with her and quit the show. “I love Sharon. We talk to each other in the middle of the night. She tells me about America’s Got Talent and we always have fun.”
Fun? Will he be able to have fun again? He sighs. “I’ve discovered my garden. There are birds and squirrels and foxes. I’m sitting in it a lot.”
Maybe when the court case is over, no date has yet been fixed, he’ll start to feel better and stop having the flashbacks. He nods hopefully. Before then there’s a whole new X Factor to take his mind off it. “Somebody asked me what’s the difference between the new panel and the old. On the new panel nobody’s had any botox and apart from me they can all sing.
“Bootcamp is starting at 8.30am not noon like when Simon had it. And if Gary, Kelly and Tulisa can do it I’ll have to do it, work flat out till midnight. Only strong are going to survive, and that’s just the judges.” At last there’s a naughty laugh.“I think Dannii and Cheryl will be missed initially because people know them as characters, but then they’re going to be surprised. This could be the best X Factor ever. The girls this year are incredible. “
For a moment it’s the old Louis, excited. And then he recalls. “One big pop star was at American Idol and had his picture taken with somebody who said they were a fan and turned out to be a big drug dealer. Everyone has a camera phone and can take your picture. When you go out you get your picture taken thousands of times. You’re in the middle of people. They’re there as if they know me.”
Louis has always been very open about that sort of thing. I remember going to a U2 gig with him at Croke Park, Dublin. He must have had his picture taken 50 times in 100 yards and he never thought twice about it.
“That was my number one rule to my bands. Be nice to everybody. You have to be accessible. And now I’m scared. Everybody had my phone number. Now I have a new phone. I thought I could trust everybody. All I wanted to do is work in this business because I love it and have a normal life. The price you pay for being in the public eye is you are public property. I was talking to Cheryl about this. I know exactly what Cheryl felt like. There were photographers outside the hotel, at the airport, outside my house. It was the scariest thing. Up until this I didn’t realise the pressure. I’ve never had a minder with me and now I will not go anywhere without someone. Cheryl invited me to her birthday party. I just couldn’t go.
“There was an invitation for her to come back to the UK X Factor but I don’t think there would have been the same dynamic if Simon wasn’t there. They had a Sonny and Cher thing going on. I think she did the right thing by not coming back. I’d love to see her perform on the show. I only wish her well and if she’s happy with Ashley people should leave them alone. She’s in the papers every day with every move she makes. I know Ashley and I’ve seen another side to him and I like him. Everybody thinks he’s a bad boy. I think he loves Cheryl and she loves him.
“It’s a tough business. Especially for girls because there’s always a new girl coming along. It’s tough to survive. It’s important that she keeps herself happy. It’s her life.
“As for Dannii, I think the baby has changed her life an awful lot. When the dates changed it didn’t work with her Australian show and I think she likes Australia more than anything. It took me a long time to get to know her, but when I did I thought she was really really great.”
For a whole year he was wary of Dannii because he wanted to be loyal who spectacularly fell out with her and quit the show. “I love Sharon. We talk to each other in the middle of the night. She tells me about America’s Got Talent and we always have fun.”
Fun? Will he be able to have fun again? He sighs. “I’ve discovered my garden. There are birds and squirrels and foxes. I’m sitting in it a lot.”
Maybe when the court case is over, no date has yet been fixed, he’ll start to feel better and stop having the flashbacks. He nods hopefully. Before then there’s a whole new X Factor to take his mind off it. “Somebody asked me what’s the difference between the new panel and the old. On the new panel nobody’s had any botox and apart from me they can all sing.
“Bootcamp is starting at 8.30am not noon like when Simon had it. And if Gary, Kelly and Tulisa can do it I’ll have to do it, work flat out till midnight. Only strong are going to survive, and that’s just the judges.” At last there’s a naughty laugh.