Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Entertainment
Michelle Townsend

Fiona O'Carroll refused to speak to dad Brendan after split from mum Doreen

Mrs Brown's Boys creator Brendan O'Carroll has told how his daughter and co-star Fiona refused to speak to him for a time after his split from her mum, RSVP Live reports.

Brendan's first marriage to Doreen Dowdall came to an end in 1999 which was around the same time Mrs Brown's Boys became popular with Irish audiences.

Doreen, who is mum to Brendan's children Fiona, Danny and Eric, didn't want a life in the limelight and his success put a strain on their marriage.

Read More : Maura Higgins fuels rift rumours as she 'unfollows' Love Island co-star on Insta

They decided to split up after 22 years and the decision caused a lot of heartache in the family.

Brendan has now revealed that Fiona wouldn't speak to him because she thought his then co-star and now wife Jenny Gibney was the reason behind her parents split.

However, Brendan and Jenny, who went on to marry, only became romantically involved after the divorce.

"I think Fiona was hurt, not because she thought I loved Jenny more than I loved her mother, but that I might love Jenny more than I loved her," he said.

The father and daughter reconciled soon after, and Fiona is one of Brendan's many relatives to star on the hit BBC and RTE sitcom.

Working with family makes sense for the O'Carrolls, as Brendan told The Sun: "Because we're so close even when there's fights we resolve it quickly because we have to get on and work."

The comedian also touched on Fiona's split from husband and co-star Martin Delany, who called time on their relationship after 15 years of marriage.

He insists the split "didn't cause any problems" and that the former couple "probably get on better now than when they were married".

Last year, Fiona spoke candidly about the hurt she felt when her parents split up.

The actress tried to hang on to her own marriage to Martin because she remembers how public her own parents' break up was.

She didn't want her four sons Felix, Eli, Isaac and Dexter, coming from a broken marriage. But, after a lot of time to think, she and Martin split in December 2018.

Fiona said: "I think I hung on for as long as I did because when my own parents broke up, that was very public, and there was a lot of hurt involved there.

"For me, as a child, coming from a broken marriage, I didn’t want that for my kids."

Fiona O'Carroll is taking part in RTE’s Ultimate Hell Week: The Professionals (Instagram/@fiona0carroll)

She added to the RTÉ Guide: "But having said that, my parents are extremely happy now so sometimes you have to go through hard times to get to happier times and as much as I tried my best to make it work, we tried for years and it just got to that point where we both decided, or I decided, it was time.

“I felt that I needed to be a role model for my kids and as much as they weren’t happy about us splitting up, they are OK actually, because with myself and Martin, our main focus is the kids and we didn’t actually tell the kids until we were almost a year separated."

READ NEXT :

Get breaking news to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.