London, July 22 (IANS) Singer Ronan Keating admits he's been through hell following the end of his 14-year marriage to Yvonne Connolly.

The 35-year-old was found having an affair with a dancer, which led to breakdown of his marriage in April. Post the split, the singer started drinking heavily and was also hit by depression.

Nobody wants to go through a relationship and have kids and think it'll ever break up. I see myself as a failure. It's been devastating for the children, thesun.co.uk quoted him as saying.

Keating and Connolly got married in 1998 and have three children, Jack, 13, Marie, 11, and Ali, 6.

The singer said he does not want to be a free bird, and is keen to get into a relationship.

We obviously don't have the closeness we used to have. That's the hardest thing to bear.I'm a free spirit for the first time in years, but I didn't want that. I liked being in a relationship, he said.