Here is why, after 20 years, Darren Hayes still refuses to talk to Daniel Jones and how the Savage Garden breakup still negatively impacts him today.
On KIIS with Kylie and Jackie O, they had made a comment claiming Darren was the one who had left the bad, to which he corrected them by saying the following:
“Well, hang on, let me clarify that. I loved it; I would have been in that band forever.”
They proceeded to ask him if Daniel had been good to and supportive of Darren, and this is what he said:
“Uh, no.” I was really supportive of him; he absolutely hated the experience of being famous. He decided before the release of that second album (1999’s Affirmation) that he didn’t want that life—which is totally his right. A week before Affirmation came out, we had the number one single around the world (I Knew I Loved You), and Daniel had a life crisis and decided he didn’t want to do it anymore. We had to convince him: ‘Could you just maybe tour the album, and let’s work this out later on?”
The band would continue to go on for another couple of years before the messy split.
This is what else Darren had to say about the situation:
“His leaving was a huge rug pulled out from under me, and for contractual reasons we couldn’t really talk about it. He held that press conference where he said, ‘Oh, this is the first I’ve heard of it,’ which was such a stupid thing to say, because people thought I’d left the band.”
That press conference was held at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens on October 5, 2001. Daniel Jones had told the media that he was disappointed with the split, and he claimed Darren Hayes had not consulted him about the breakup of the band.
During other interviews Darren said the following:
“It is pretty obvious now who was behind the split, he’s never made music since.”
In an interview with News Corp in 2015, Daniel referred to his time in the band as: “like a bad road trip.”
Darren had this to say about him forgiving Daniel on the matter:
I have so much forgiveness for him now. I don’t like the way he went about it, but I’ve forgiven him.
When Darren was asked whether him and Daniel still speak, after scoffing he said:
Oh no. Nooo. When someone does that to you and doesn’t apologise … I mean, Kyle still believes the lie; that’s a pretty major betrayal. It affected my career and my life. Going solo wasn’t a planned thing.
The Savage Garden breakup not only deeply hurt Darren emotionally, but it also impacted his career. The executives in charge were concerned that his sexuality might hurt record sales, so they started to try and control his public image. They were not fans of his solo work and refused to promote him because they believed he appeared “too gay.”
Source: Darren Hayes on the ‘betrayal’ behind Savage Garden’s bitter split
Kristin’s thoughts: As I write this in 2026, I’ve read the book “Unlovable,” which came out on November 5, 2024, and watched Darren discuss the breakup in YouTube interviews. And I must say that honestly, I can’t help but feel some resentment towards Daniel. At the peak of Savage Garden’s success, right after their second album, “Affirmation,” was released, he suddenly tells Darren he wants to leave the band. I understand he has the right to do so, but I think it was a poor choice. I didn’t appreciate how he handled the situation; he promised Darren he would say it was his decision to leave, but when it was time to be honest, he made it seem like it was Darren’s fault. This hurt Darren deeply and led some to blame him for the breakup. When Darren confronted Daniel about it, Daniel’s response was essentially, “I have to look out for myself. ” What a joke. You can find out more about how Daniel treated Darren in the book “Unlovable.” Another thing I disliked was how Daniel suggested Darren might need to fix his teeth to stay in the public eye. Poor Darren really wanted a friendship with his bandmate, but Daniel never truly returned that sentiment, which is his loss.