Darren Hayes Recalls 'Betrayal' Around Savage Garden Split

Darren Hayes has gone into detail about why Savage Garden split up.

When asked on the Kyle and Jackie O Show why he left the band, the Australian pop star said that's a popular misconception and that it was his bandmate Daniel Jones that caused the split, much to Hayes' dismay.

"Well hang on, let me clarify that – Daniel left Savage Garden." I loved it, I would have been in that band forever.” When asked for further detail by Jackie-O Hayes revealed that he was supportive of Jones, but that it was his decision to exit and that choice tore them apart. 

“Uh, no. I was really supportive of him; he absolutely hated the experience of being famous. He decided before the release of that second album that he didn’t want that life – which is totally his right.”  “A week before Affirmation came out, we had the number one single around the world (I Knew I Loved You), and Daniel had a life crisis and decided he didn’t want to do it anymore. We had to convince him: ‘Could you just maybe tour the album, and let’s work this out later on?’”

Hayes continued further indicating that he felt like Jones essentially threw him under the bus with his first public comments on the matter. “His leaving was a huge rug pulled out from under me, and for contractual reasons, we couldn’t really talk about it,” Hayes said. “He held that press conference where he said, ‘Oh, this is the first I’ve heard of it,’ which was such a stupid thing to say because people thought I’d left the band.” 

Jones's comments were made at a solo press conference in Brisbane in 2001, at which he claimed it was Hayes who was leaving the band and that he was disappointed by that choice.  Hayes considers that conference a betrayal and the reason for the bitter divide between the pair. Responding to a question about whether the two have a cordial relationship, Hayes swung for the fences stating.

"Oh noooooo, when someone does that to you and doesn’t apologise … I mean, Kyle still believes the lie; that’s a pretty major betrayal".

Hayes is currently doing the press rounds for his new solo record Homosexual.