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Ronan’s raunchy new role

Ronan's raunchy new role

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The X Factor judge reveals more than just his vocal range in a new movie.

He may be used to the limelight, but Ronan Keating has a confession to make – when it came to baring his backside in a much-talked-about scene in new Aussie musical comedy Goddess, he was a little daunted.

“Yes, sorry about that!” he quips good-naturedly about the revealing on-screen moment. “But as an actor, you have to get rid of all your inhibitions, and it was fun,” he adds.

What did Ronan’s real-life love, Australian TV producer Storm Uechtritz, have to say about the scene?

“She laughed,” he reveals. “She’s got a hell of a sense of humour. So the two of us, you know, see the good side of these sorts of things.

“And it’s only a bum,” he chuckles, adding, “I’m not showing any more than that!” Jokes aside, the handsome Irishman – who found happiness with Storm after his 14-year marriage to Yvonne Connolly, the mother of his three children, came to an end – is clearly in a great place right now.

“Life is good,” he says. “It’s been an interesting few years – not easy – but I’m very happy. Everything is settled.

“Storm and I are very, very happy together, so you just do what you do. You take each day as it comes.”

And Ronan was thrilled to make his acting debut in Goddess, alongside lead star Laura Michelle Kelly and seasoned actor/comedian Magda Szubanski. The former Boyzone singer plays a dad of twin toddlers, whose life changes forever when his wife Elspeth (Kelly) becomes an overnight sensation.

“It [the film] was a daunting prospect for me, but it’s something I’d been trying to do for 10 years,” the 36-year-old concedes. “I’d been doing lots of readings. I’d read for Baz Lurhmann for Moulin Rouge way back, but I wasn’t good enough then. Finding someone who believes in me and having the ability to do it [meant] eventually it came around. The stars aligned for me.”

Already at work on his second film, with a third in the pipeline, a busier-than-ever Ronan is also hoping to reclaim his seat on the judging panel for another series of The X Factor later this year.

“It’s not confirmed by any means, but we’re very, very close to confirming,” he reveals. “It’s so up in the air about which judges are doing it and which aren’t, that I’m actually confused! But I’m close and I want to do it, so I think it’s going to happen.”

Goddess is now showing in cinemas nationally.

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