Olly Murs has publicly extended an olive branch to his twin brother Ben. The two siblings fell out when Olly was still competing on The X Factor back in 2009, when the singer missed Ben's wedding to appear on the live semi-final. They have been estranged ever since, but now Olly says he is ready to put the feud behind him. Speaking on John Bishop: In Conversation with Olly Murs, Olly opened up their falling out.
"We never held a grudge. We never fell out when we were home, ever. It's hard now not ever having your twin brother around to experience this life that I have now got. Knowing that we used to have an argument or a disagreement and we'd just get over it, and it would be fine," he said.
Olly Murs has said he is ready to end his ongoing feud with twin brother Ben
"In my head, I think that I really hope that the next time I see him, and I don't know when that's going to be, but I do hope that will be the case. It sounds weird but I hope we just sit in a room and go, 'It was a bit of a silly eight years, wasn't it?'"
Olly comments come after his mother Vickylynn spoke of her heartbreak that Ben had decided to disown his family following the feud. In an interview with the Sunday Times Magazine in January, she said the rift had made her so ill so was on "the verge of a breakdown". She revealed: "It was such a shock it made me ill. 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."
Ben pictured at his 2009 wedding to Amy Hart
Vickylynn continued: "I'm much better now, but my heart is broken. 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. I'll go on loving him and sticking up for him until I die." Olly told the magazine: "We don't speak to my twin brother and that's been extremely difficult. Long before X Factor there were problems between Ben and his girlfriend and our family."
Ben, meanwhile, recently revealed he has taken on his wife's surname in a bid to distance himself from his family. "I just wanted to move on," he explained. "I couldn't cope with it all – if I went into Barclay's bank, I would be asked if I was Olly's brother. I would just say 'no'. If someone called me by [Murs] now I wouldn't even turn around. Ben Hart. That's my identity."