Mark Owen prefers chocolate to alcohol

Mark Owen no longer goes out drinking after performing with Take That, but stays in his room eating his favourite chocolate instead.

Mark Owen has swapped alcohol with chocolate.

The Take That star gave up drinking last year after confessing to an alcohol addiction amid revelations he had cheated on wife Emma, but has learned new post-performance routines to stop himself from missing his old ritual of winding down with his favourite tipples.

He said: "What's replaced the temptations? Green & Blacks organic milk chocolate! The world when you drink is different to when you don't. So different.

"There are different habits when you drink. I would come off stage and start drinking. Just head to the bar.

"That's what everyone does when they finish the show. Then you realise you don't need to go to the bar. You just don't need to go there."

One of the other things Mark - who has children Elwood, four, and Willow, two, with Emma - is using his downtime for is to learn to cook.

He told Time Out magazine: "When we're doing the dates and I'm off stage, I just spend a lot of time on my own being quiet. Our head chef guy is teaching me some recipes too, so I'm cooking stuff most nights."