United Kingdom, June 23 -- Ian 'H' Watkins believes Steps were "just treated as puppets" at the start of their career.

The pop star has opened up about his time in the group and revealed the band started out being overworked and exhausted after shooting to fame in the late 1990s, but they eventually managed to regain control and became "very much in charge".

He told Dailymail.co.uk: "Back in the day we were worked, oh my God, we were so tired. We all have a very similar tale to tell ... We were all exhausted.

"There was no aftercare in place, there was no mental health, no teams involved and we were just treated as puppets."

However, H explained Steps were initially only signed on a one album record deal, so they were in a better plac...