They were the brother sister duo who grabbed Ireland's attention when they tried to qualify for the Eurovision with their song LOVE? in 2005, but failing to qualify, Joe McCaul could never imagine the ridicule he would get following the song contest.

The singer, who grew up in a council house in Athlone, is the youngest of six children.

Before being launched into the spotlight, Joe admitted he had suffered constantly with his mental health, always living in a state of survival.

Thrust into the limelight after winning You're a Star at the age of 16, Joe sat down with Brenda Dennehy on The Comeback podcast, opening up about the ups and downs he had encountered during his young life and when they went for Eurovision.

Chauffeured in limousines, receiving a daily payment from RTÉ, as well as being wined and dined, for a brother and sister who came from very little, this was something out of this world for them.

However, when Joe and Donna didn't qualify for the final, the support and positivity surrounding them was soon turned on it's head.

'I remember when we didn't get in, the devastating effect that had on me. I went back to my room, I was only 17, and I struggled very hard because that was more shame, more embarrassment, more rejection. Everyone was going out, and they (Donna and the crew) went to the finals on Saturday night, I didn't go I just stayed in my hotel room because I just didn't want to go out.'

Arriving home from the contest in Kiev, Ukraine, the teenager was subject to constant ridicule from people telling Brenda, 'I think over the years, I was nearly taken advantage of. I was made an eejit out of by people, people in the media. That was hard because I was saying, 'Where is my self-worth, why can't I be assertive?'

The teenager at the time said he remembers how he 'found it very hard to be assertive because I didn't like conflict, and then because I didn't like conflict, if I reacted a certain way, some people would say 'Oh that was very aggressive,' So I couldn't even stand up for myself.'

Joe's family became the centre of attention when the media discovered that their father had an issue with drinking, making this a top story for their publication, causing a serious amount of stress on the entire household and he admitted that 'Once or twice I thought of taking my own life.'

Over the years, Joe worked on his mental health, and in 2015, X-Factor producers came knocking asking him to audition.

Putting himself back in a position which had turned so ugly in the past, the Athlone man hoped that this time round would be different.

Simon described him as an awful performer, but given another chance to perform the judges, Joe said, one famous face helped him.

'Caroline Flack, God love her, was with Olly Murs back then, and she was so kind to me and so nice and help me pick a song. She was even singing with me...Caroline Flack had an energy about her. She had her hand over me and it was like a way of apologising for the way I was treated. She had empathy.'

The pressure once again hit home for Joe, and when he was taken off the stage, Joe was suddenly transported back to those feelings of embarrassment, shame and failure, feelings he had worked so hard on over the years since Eurovision, to escape.

The hatred and trolling once again raised its ugly heads and said that it was the worst experience of his life.

In 2014, it was revealed that Joe had been diagnosed with MS. 'My world crumbled around me. I was crying and the doctors just left me be,' he told The Irish Times as he recalled the moment he was diagnosed. Learning to deal with the condition in time, Joe has been able to live a relatively normal life.

The years brought tough times, challenges that tested not only Joe's mental health but his physical health as well, but it is the people around him who have got him through, such as his partner Mark, with whom he is now engaged and has a house with. Crediting his fiancé, he said it was thanks to him that he has the career he has today.

Heading back to the classroom, Joe has fully qualified as a secondary school music and additional educational needs teacher. And while Joe is in a better place when it comes to his mental health, the star zones in on the idea of kindness. To have empathy and understanding to others as you never know what that person is going through on the inside.