It was a balmy night on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip in October 2014 that I met the very refreshed boyband star Max George. We were in Rock & Reilly’s, an expensive but dingy Irish bar and restaurant – and The Wanted singer was unsteady on his feet and slurring his words.

Back then, the Mancunian star was trying to achieve his dream of cracking Tinseltown as an actor hoping, like many before him, that his British accent and charm would ingratiate him to the Americans.

Only the work wasn’t exactly forthcoming. So Max, then 26, decided instead to hit the town night after night.

As that evening wore on, things started getting raucous. And Max was so worse for wear that I shepherded him off the stairs, where he was swaying, in case he fell.

Explaining blearily to me that he was in Los Angeles for audition season, I suggested that he leave the venue, which was also popular with Jason Statham and rumoured to be owned by former Tottenham Hotspur player Robbie Keane (who was playing for LA Galaxy at the time).

I wonder now if that moment was a red flag for the star who in his heyday was quite the pop pin-up. The Wanted had announced a hiatus in January 2014, and Max was a permanent fixture on the London nightclub scene.

He confided in me that he was distraught that The Wanted had recently gone their separate ways. He had also not long before split from his fiancee, actress Michelle Keegan. He was devastated – and it made me question whether he was using alcohol to alleviate his hurt.

It seems now that Max has been yet another victim of the boyband phenomenon: chewed up and spat out by the music industry machine, only to fall into the clutches of alcohol.

I was reminded of that 2014 encounter when, on Thursday evening, the one-time heart-throb shared a picture of himself in his hospital bed.

Max, now 36, took to Instagram to tell his 370,000 followers that he is to undergo major heart surgery after a terrifying dash to A&E.

On Thursday evening, the one-time heart-throb shared a picture of himself in his hospital bed

Despite his forthcoming surgery, which means that he will be in hospital over Christmas, he posed with a thumbs up and told his followers that he considered himself to be ‘very lucky’ but conceded he was given a ‘huge shock’ by the ordeal.

Max wrote: ‘Hey everyone. Yesterday I felt really unwell and was taken into hospital. Unfortunately after some tests they’ve found that I have some issues with my heart.

‘I have a lot more tests to determine the extent of the problems and what surgery I will need to get me back on my feet.

‘It’s gonna be a difficult few weeks/months… and Christmas in a hospital bed wasn’t exactly what I had planned! But, as always, I’m surrounded with love and support by my wonderful partner Maisie, her family, my family and friends… and I’m 100 per cent in the best place. Although this is a huge shock and no doubt a setback, it’s something I’ll take on with all I’ve got! I count myself very lucky that this was caught when it was.’

Max is now in a relationship with Maisie Smith, the EastEnders actress he met while starring on Strictly in 2020 who, aged 23, is 13 years his junior

While dating Michelle Keegan, who was starring on Coronation Street at the time, he asked the show’s producers whether The Wanted could perform a gig at the Rovers Return

To make matters all the more tragic, Max’s health battle comes just two years after his bandmate from The Wanted, Tom Parker, died of a brain tumour.

Max quit drinking after the death of his friend, admitting he had a problem and had been using alcohol as a crutch to help with his anxiety.

But those who know him well fear that all those years of stardom and partying could have contributed to his suffering now.

Indeed, as a showbiz reporter, I used to see the boyband – made up of Max, Tom, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness and Nathan Sykes – regularly while they enjoyed a string of chart successes between 2010 and 2012, with hits such as All Time Low and Glad You Came.

Max was always the loud, cheeky one.

Shockingly, one evening when I met with the boys to interview them about a forthcoming single, Max made an outlandish remark about my appearance. I put his comment down to the fact that he had probably been drinking.

The band, who lived together in a flash apartment in the trendy east London neighbourhood of Shoreditch, were at showbusiness events every night.

On another occasion, I recall Max giddily telling me that while dating Michelle, who was starring on Coronation Street at the time, he had asked the show’s producers whether The Wanted could perform a gig at the soap’s pub, the Rovers Return. His bandmates apparently looked on in horror at his ridiculous request.

The Wanted’s Siva Kaneswaran, Nathan Sykes, Tom Parker, Max and Jay McGuiness in 2021

But friends of the star say that he was like a ‘kid in a sweet shop’ when he found fame in 2009 after Justin Bieber’s manager, American music mogul Scooter Braun, picked him to be one of five singers in the band.

After all, Max had a very normal upbringing in the Manchester suburb of Swinton.

As a teen he had aspirations of becoming a pro footballer. But those dreams were shattered after he lost out on a contract with Preston North End.

So his foray into music gave him some much-needed direction.

As he rose in stature, Max quickly earned himself a reputation as a ladies’ man.

He and Michelle dated for over a year before getting engaged. When they split, he was linked to the likes of actresses Lindsay Lohan and Carmen Electra and The Only Way is Essex star Lucy Mecklenburgh. After dating footballer Ryan Giggs’s ex wife Stacey, he is now in a relationship with Maisie Smith, the EastEnders actress he met while starring on Strictly in 2020 who, aged 23, is 13 years his junior.

‘Max loved being in a boyband, it brought him everything a young man could want,’ says a friend of the star.

‘The problem is that it always seems so much fun at the time, but in reality the damage that can be done is huge.’