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Early Breakfast with Gary King 4am - 6am
8 August 2024, 12:40
He's 'Truly Madly Deeply' dedicated to fitness.
Savage Garden's lead singer Darren Hayes has left his fans astonished after showing his recent transformation.
The Australian artist has undergone a gruelling exercise regime over the past year, which shaved years off his age of 52.
Darren made the decision to get buff after divorcing his husband Richard Cullen, a British director and screenwriter.
The pair married in 2013 and spent a decade together before Hayes filed for divorce in September 2023.
He and Cullen had been together long before they officially married, having entered a civil partnership back in 2005 before same-sex marriage was legal.
After the devastating dissolution of his marriage which has dogged his personal life over the past few years, Darren shared his new era of fitness with his 95k followers on Instagram.
In the post, Darren compared two pictures - one of himself two years ago after completing his tour, and the other his recent transformation.
"I’m 52. Pic on the left is after about a year of boxing, Basecamp, and Barry’s Bootcamp," he wrote in the caption next to the image.
"Pic on right was just after I came back from tour 2 years ago. Exercise is HARD as you get older, but it keeps me sane."
It might keep Darren sane, but he also looks in enviable shape too.
When announcing the news of his and Cullen's divorce, Hayes admitted that he "felt the need to be honest to those who have always cared for my inner world about what's been going on in my private life these past two years."
"After 17 years of marriage to the best person I ever met," he continued, "Richard and I have chosen to accept that our union has greatly and beautifully come to rest."
"In honour of this realisation, we separated earlier this year and have been supporting each other emotionally throughout this massive changed in our lives."
He then directly addressed any speculation that might have arisen from their separation, adding: "Because people will ask, let me answer the ugly questions to get them out of the way forever - no, there’s no scandal to report, no infidelity, guilty or third party."
"It’s just life. We adore each other and always will."‘
"We view our marriage as our greatest collaboration. Nobody can ever take away what we achieved together. We are still best friends. We always will be."
Savage Garden rose to global stardom throughout the nineties with the release of singles like 'I Want You', 'To The Moon And Back', 'I Knew I Loved You', and 'Truly Madly Deeply'.
The latter of which topped the US Billboard charts, only to be knock off by Céline Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On' before later returning to the top spot with the gorgeous ballad.
In a 2017 interview with Attitude, Darren Hayes felt his decision to come out as gay openly impacted the group's success from then onwards, though doesn't regret living his truth.
"I don't regret [publicly coming out] for a second. It wasn't that I was blacklisted, but it was that I became a 'niche' artist purely based on my sexuality," he said.
"There was a kind of unintentionally patronising view of me. No longer a sexual object, but more of someone you might take home to Mom. I was suddenly your gay uncle."
"That was frustrating. My sexuality was used as a descriptor, and if you think about it, that's nuts. No one says 'Openly heterosexual singer Adele'."