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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Jada Jones

U2's Bono announces secret brother he didn't know he had - and how he found out

U2 's lead singer Bono has opened up about the discovery of his half-brother, who he was unaware of the existence of for decades.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, the 62-year-old singer said: "I have another brother, whom I love and adore, who I didn't know I had."

The Irish songwriter said that he found out about his half-brother in 2000 and that he is "at peace" with the discovery.

He confessed that his mother Iris, who died in 1974, hadn't known that her husband had had another child with another woman.

"It's a very close family," Bono opened up, "and I could tell my father had a deep friendship with this gorgeous woman, who's part of the family, and then they had a child. And this was all kept secret."

Bono found out about his half-brother in 2000 (AFP via Getty Images)

After finding out, Bono spoke to his father Bob before his 2001 death about his half-brother.

"I asked him, did he love my mother, and he said yes," Bono said. "And I said, how could this happen, and he said, 'It can', and that he was trying to put it right.

"He wasn't apologising, he was just stating, these are the facts. And I'm at peace with it."

When asked if his mother has been aware of the existence of the child, Bono said: "No, nobody knew.

Bono said he is at peace with the news of his brother (AFP/Getty Images)

"My father was obviously going through a lot, but partly his head was elsewhere because his heart was elsewhere."

Bono also has an older brother named Norman, who he shares both of his parents with.

The music icon opened up about the impact losing his mother, as a result of a brain aneurysm, when he was 14. Bono said that he 'found another family' with him forming U2 and finding his wife Ali Hewson.

Bono admitted that his relationship with his father was "complicated" with him not putting all of the blame on his dad.

He said that he felt that he himself was 'hard to deal' while his dad was 'coping with a lot'.

Bono said he found a new family after his mum died (Corbis via Getty Images)
Bono married Ali in 1982 (Getty Images North America)

The Irish singer recently made headlines about why he wears coloured glasses, with it being revealed that it was a result of his painful eye condition.

He opened up about it in 2014 on The Graham Norton Show when promoting his free online album, Songs of Innocence.

He said: "This is a good place to explain to people that I’ve had glaucoma for the last 20 years. I have good treatments and I am going to be fine."

Glaucoma is a common eye condition that can lead to a loss of vision if it is not treated and is "usually caused by fluid building up in the front part of the eye, which increases pressure inside the eye".

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