The drama stretches back to 2009 — the moment Olly Murs chose the The X Factor semi-final over his twin brother Ben’s wedding day. Sixteen years on, the fallout remains raw, unresolved — and the brothers are completely estranged.
Now 41, Olly has revealed a painful new perspective on the rift since becoming a first-time father last year. The singer — who is expecting his second child with wife Amelia Tank — admits parenthood has made him understand, more than ever, the quiet devastation his mum has lived with since the family fractured.
Speaking to The Sunday Times Magazine, Olly said: “Now I’m a parent I can relate more to my mum’s sadness that my twin brother, Ben, and I have been estranged since 2009 — though I’ve got nothing but love and respect for him.”
The comments reopen a wound that has rarely healed. The feud ignited when Olly skipped Ben’s wedding — despite being best man — to compete on The X Factor. At the time, Ben publicly lashed out, branding his brother a “self-obsessed sell out” and accusing the show of tearing their family apart.
“Our family was torn apart because of X Factor,” Ben told the Sunday People in 2009. “It was clear that people like Simon Cowell were more important to him than me.”
Olly later confirmed the painful decision while appearing on The Voice, explaining to will.i.am: “I was on X Factor and I couldn’t make his wedding because I was on the show.” Asked where his brother now lives, he admitted quietly: “I have no idea.”
Yet Olly has long insisted the cracks ran deeper than one missed day. He has previously claimed tensions existed well before his rise to fame, accusing Ben of using the wedding as an “excuse” to cut ties altogether.
“I don’t speak to my twin brother and that’s been extremely difficult,” Olly said in a past interview with The Sunday Times Magazine. “Long before X Factor there were problems between Ben and his girlfriend and our family. His wedding was his excuse for not having me in his life anymore… I don’t think he ever liked us as a family.”
The singer later opened up emotionally about the rift while working on The Voice, admitting the brothers had “a big argument.” Fighting back tears, he confessed a fear that haunts him: “I feel like the next time I am going to see him is going to be at the worst place — a funeral. I don’t want that to be the case. I miss having my twin with me. This bond as a twin was something I was proud of — and I still am.”
The split didn’t stop with Olly. In the aftermath, Ben also severed contact with their parents, accusing them of being changed by “fame and greed.” Determined to distance himself, he even took his wife Amy’s surname, Hart, and publicly criticised his mum and dad for allegedly favouring Olly.
“My parents wanted this bright, shiny Olly with the money who could give them the VIP lifestyle,” Ben claimed. “They liked hanging around with Simon Cowell or going to Bon Jovi concerts — the VIP selfies. I’m not interested in anything like that. I have a lovely life with my wife and kids. I’ve worked hard, been to university, got a degree. I’ve never wanted anything from Olly.”
Perhaps the deepest scars, though, were carried by their mother, Vicky-Lynn. Amid the fallout, she revealed the trauma left her so unwell she feared she had multiple sclerosis. The stress became physically crippling.
“It was such a shock it made me ill,” she previously told The Sunday Times Magazine. “I even thought I had MS — I had to use a walking stick because my legs were so weak. I also couldn’t work. I was on the verge of a breakdown.”
Though she later recovered physically, the emotional toll never fully lifted. “I’m much better now but my heart is broken,” she said. “Ben’s broken my heart — and his dad’s — but I will not hear anything against him. I don’t think he understands what he’s done.”
Sixteen years on, the silence between the twins remains — a family bond fractured by one decision, amplified by fame, and still shadowing every milestone that follows.
