Rick Astley worries about female pop stars being "coerced" into stripping off onscreen

He told The Sunday Times newspaper: "I sometimes see the videos that some women are in - controversial as this may be - and I just go: 'I hope you decided that. I hope you decided to wear that and you're comfy with that. That you've not been kind of like slightly coerced into it'.

"Or that you've not been like: 'She went down to almost nothing - so I'm gonna go down to practically nothing'."

Rick also admitted he's glad he didn't become famous in the age of social media, adding: "I would not want to be starting out with a music career right now because it's just so alien to me ... I think a lot of people are struggling because of the social media thing and it can eat you."

The 59-year-old singer admitted he spent years healing because fame was so difficult to deal with and it took a lot of therapy for him to be able to move forward with his life.

He explained: "I was probably a bit messed up. I don't think anybody goes through that kind of 15 minutes of fame and doesn't come away with a few scars ...

"I think it's weird I had this crazy monster hit around the world and no one ever took me aside and said: 'By the way, here's a few tips, here are a few hints.'

"I didn't really know who I was a lot of the time. I kind of thought: 'Who have I just been for five years?' Part of it was definitely me, but a lot of it wasn't."

It comes after Rick was recently asked to name his biggest disappointment in life and he admitted it was "fame".

He told told the Guardian newspaper: "Fame. The upside is not worth the downside - you can't turn fame on and off, and have privacy."