Former Miss Ireland Siobhan McClafferty says she disagrees with young children entering beauty pageants - but admits being delighted when daughter Lauren bagged a crown.
The Malahide mum, 50, who recently moved to Tampa, Florida with husband, Julian O’ Sullivan, spoke to The Irish Mirror about feeling anxious over Lauren becoming a beauty queen.
She said: "I was nervous because beauty pageants are a real business here and it’s taken seriously.
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"Kids as young as four or five enter beauty pageants. I don’t really agree with it.
"I never pushed Lauren. When we lived in Dublin she was into horse riding and sport.
"But when she won Miss Florida Global at 20, I was thrilled for her."
Art graduate and model, Lauren is now about to embark on a Masters degree.
"I’m so proud because when we moved to America, Lauren was just 14 and it was hard starting over."
The family returns to Ireland next month for a holiday.
Siobhan has no regrets about her Miss World experience, where she missed first place by just a point.
"If I was to always think about it, I’d go mad. Winning just wasn’t meant to be.
"But the competition opened a lot of doors.
"I’d never intended to compete. I thought I could never walk out in a swimsuit in front of everyone. But it was fine.
"I was working in Dublin Airport at the time. I was just an ordinary Malahide girl and didn’t know anything about modelling.
"My mother, Madeline, was so nervous she didn’t even want to come to Miss World.
"We were on the Late Late and Gay Byrne encouraged her to go.
"But even when I was on stage during Miss World, she was nowhere to be seen as she’d disappeared off to the bathroom."
Siobhan revealed her late mam, who sadly passed away during Covid, never let fame go to her head.
"She ran a guesthouse and even after I won Miss Ireland I was helping out with the hoovering and getting the rooms ready for guests.
"We were so close, always chatting on the phone. When she passed away I was devastated.
"My sisters sent me photos from her hospital bed. I felt so far away."
On Sunday Siobhan wrote an Instagram tribute to her late father Joe.
"To my dad in Heaven this father’s day. I want you to know how much I miss you.
"Thank you for loving me. You are still with me because you are always in my heart."
Siobhan revealed her parents met in an unusual way.
She said: "My mother met my father at Mass in London.
"She approached him in the church and introduced herself."
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