Mrs. Brown’s Boys actress Fiona O’Carroll opens up about she decided not to appear on Dancing with the Stars
Fiona O’Carroll
Fiona O’Carroll has revealed she was lined up to do Dancing With The Stars – but pulled out at the last minute to work on her marriage.
The Mrs. Brown’s Boys actress split from husband and co-star before the first Covid lockdown hit, announcing the news in 2021.
Prior to the breakdown of her marriage, Fiona had signed up to the glitzy RTE show, but ultimately decided it wasn’t a good idea to take part as she “had a lot going on then”.
She told us: “I think I’ve burned some bridges there. I would love to do it, and I was lined up to, but I pulled out at the last minute. I don’t think they’ve forgiven me.
“My marriage was not in a very good place at the time. I had a very open and honest conversation with my dad [Brendan O’Carroll] about it.
“You know the whole Strictly curse and relationships failing and the rest of it? Because my marriage wasn’t great, my dad said to me, ‘Do you want this to be the reason? You need to focus on your marriage and work on that, that has to come first’.”
Fiona dropped out of the show, which airs in early January each year, before Christmas.
“I had a lot going on then. I probably didn’t leave in the correct manner,” she admitted.
“I wasn’t in a good place and it was a good year, or more, when my marriage eventually failed.
“Afterwards, I contacted them and said, ‘I’m so sorry I bowed out when I did and left the way I did’.
“For two years after my marriage ended, I said, ‘I’m offering myself and my services, I’ll do it for free because of the way I handled it the last time’.
“I felt really bad. They respectfully declined so I said, ‘That’s OK’.”
Fiona describes the time of her separation as “a very difficult period”.
She said: “It was very soon after my separation that we went into Covid.
“My ex-husband was living in Portugal so I was looking after our four kids Felix, Eli, Isaac and Dexter and trying to homes chool, with no work.
“I couldn’t get PUP [Pandemic Unemployment Payment] because I was in the middle of aseparation.
“If you took PUP, you weren’t entitled to a loan or a mortgage, and I had to re-mortgage.
“I didn’t earn anything for two years, it literally ate into everything.
“But I came out the other end of it, starting from the beginning all over again in every way – financially, personally, romantically, everything. I did a lot of counselling for two years.
“I think when you go through a tough separation like that, everyone deals with it in different ways. I became quite lost and very numb and I needed to feel alive again.
“I think I went a little bit to the extreme, I would describe it as hell and back. But I did come back, stronger and definitely more open to being emotional and being connected to everyone and everything around me.
Fiona will appear on the upcoming episode of High Road, Low Road on RTE.
She and fellow actor Johnny Ward jetted off to sunny Salou in Spain, but who got to travel in luxury and who got given a basic budget remains a secret for now.
On taking part in the show, Fiona said: “I’ve been very lucky in everything I’ve worked on with Johnny, he’s great craic.
“He’s like my little lucky charm when it comes to fun projects.”
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