“I should have just come clean in the beginning – that was the mistake I made.”
However, the iconic singer stressed that he fathered the child while he was single after the breakdown of his first marriage to former Irish model Patricia Ward – and BEFORE he met Norma.
In an interview with the Sunday World, Red spoke of his regret at not telling Norma about his daughter when they first began their relationship.
Red with his eldest daughter Kimberley
The iconic Irish entertainer says that Norma, with whom he also has two daughters, only discovered 18 months ago that he was the father of a child born nearly 40 years ago – almost a decade before they met.
Red admitted that he had met his daughter regularly through the decades and that Norma was unaware of this throughout their relationship and marriage.
“I should have told Norma at the very start of our relationship and I didn’t, and that has cost me my marriage,” he says.
“I should have just come clean in the beginning…that was the mistake I made. And it was a stupid mistake because there was nothing to hide. Telling Norma seems a simple thing to have done today, but it was more complicated at the time. And then it was too late as the time went on.”
Red in his heyday on stage
Red revealed that the mother of his child became pregnant after they had a one-night-stand.
“She is a very private person and at the time she asked me not to go public on it,” Red says.
“She is a smashing person, a very nice lady and she was afraid of publicity and what it would look like in the papers, or how it might affect the child down the line. It’s as simple as that.
“I agreed to keep it to myself. It suited me too as I was uncomfortable about it at the time.”
Red with his wife Norma, who only found out about his secret daughter 18 months ago
Red says that while he didn’t have much interaction with his daughter when she was a child, they developed a relationship over the years as she got older.
“I’d meet her from time to time, sometimes every couple of weeks, sometimes it would be months, sometimes six months,” he reveals.
“It got to the stage where I was meeting her in Dublin and we’d have dinner and drinks.
“She fell in love with a guy in London, an English guy, and they got married. She lives and works over there now and has had a baby girl herself.”
Red Hurley
News in 90 Seconds – Saturday November 2
Red’s eldest daughter, Kimberley, from his first marriage, is also mum to a young daughter.
He says that Kimberley and his daughters, Kristina and Stephanie with Norma, have all accepted the news that they have a sibling they hadn’t known about.
“They didn’t have an issue,” he says. “As far as they were concerned this was a lovely girl who was a product of their dad and it was something that happened 40 years ago.”
Telling how he desperately tried to save his marriage when his secret was uncovered, Red says: “We talked and talked, but at the end of the day Norma couldn’t get over it and I understand that. The trust between us had been broken. She couldn’t put it to bed or even think about putting it to bed.
“I totally understand Norma’s position. She’s a great woman. It’s six months now since we broke up, but we are great pals…I mean genuinely great pals, and we’ll always be great pals.
“We had a great life together. We’ve been on holidays all over the world, we lived in America and we did everything we could possibly do. We were always very happy together and the kids are all very happy together.
“I’m sure Norma will come to my shows when I’m performing and I will always be very happy to see her there. We shared so many great times together.”
Red says that their families and friends have been “very understanding” and there has been no animosity.
“Nobody seems to have ill-will against either of us….Norma was in the right, I was in the right. We were both in the right,” he adds.