McFly's Dougie Poynter enters rehab centre with stress

Dougie is the youngest member of McFly at 23 and is from Essex

Dougie Poynter from pop band McFly has entered rehab because of stress, bandmate Tom Fletcher has confirmed.

He tweeted the news over the weekend saying the bass player "has been having a tough time lately".

He added: "He needed a few weeks rest so he's fighting fit and ready to slap that bass for you on tour."

The band announced that Dougie Poynter wasn't well last week and rescheduled three of their concerts in Belfast, Dublin and Nottingham.

They'll take place in April (Belfast Odyssey - 3, Dublin Arena - 4 and Nottingham Arena - 6).

McFly's tour now starts in Sheffield on Friday 18 March.

Original tickets will be valid for those dates but the band are continuing to play with just Harry Judd, Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones.

'Break-up'

Tom Fletcher told Newsbeat that Dougie had been getting treatment for a couple of weeks but not for drink or drugs.

He said: "He's coming out soon. He comes out in about a week I think and then we pretty much go on tour straight away.

McFly single Shine a Light made it to number four in the singles chart

"Obviously our jobs can be quite stressful at times anyway and then when you combine that with personal issues like a break-up, it can just make it 10 times harder.

"Being in the public eye, he's obviously been a bit down and stressed and he just needed time to recover and get some help with that."

Dougie Poynter split up with girlfriend Frankie Sandford from The Saturdays in November.

The band also released their fifth studio album last year.

Singles Party Girl and Shine a Light both made it into the top 10.

Tom Fletcher says they've been talking to Dougie Poynter while he's been in rehab.

He said: "We've talked to him on the phone. Me and Harry saw him yesterday. We went down and spoke to him.

"He's in good spirits. He's been looking forward to touring. That's what her absolutely loves, performing live.

"He's really looking forward to just getting out and obviously wanted to be on top form for all the fans on tour. I think that's what he's itching to do now."