{"id":263246,"date":"2026-01-25T13:15:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T13:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/263246\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T13:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T13:15:12","slug":"mrs-browns-boys-star-ready-to-find-love-again-after-split","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/263246\/","title":{"rendered":"Mrs Brown’s Boys star ready to find love again after split"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mrs Brown\u2019s Boys star Fiona O\u2019Carroll has said she is ready to find love again after her \u2018traumatic\u2019 split from her husband.<\/p>\n

Fiona, who is best-known as Maria, Agnes Brown’s daughter- in-law in the hit comedy series, split from Martin Delaney in 2021 after 15 years of marriage.<\/p>\n

The couple first met when they were just 16, and Fiona said at the time that they \u2018grew apart\u2019 as they both wanted different things.<\/p>\n

\"MrsMrs Brown’s Boys cast. Pic: Graeme Hunter \/ BBC Studios \/ BOC<\/p>\n

Opening up about the split, mum-of-four Fiona said she endured serious counselling to help her cope, while also trying to bounce back after struggling financially during Covid.<\/p>\n

She said: \u2018I didn’t work for two and a half years, and that was a struggle, but it really is starting to come back a little bit now, and I am starting to put myself out there a little bit more.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Pride of Ireland Awards 2016, Martin Delaney, Fiona O’Carroll. Pic: VIPIRELAND.com<\/p>\n

She said after she took part in RTE\u2019s Ultimate Hell Week, she experienced burnout, saying she went from training four times a day to not stepping foot in a gym in three years.<\/p>\n

\u2018After Hell Week, I had a bit of a burnout. And because I wasn’t working at the time, I was training four times a day in preparation for Hell Week, I was getting up at four in the morning, coupled with looking after four kids. I went hell for leather for that, and I haven’t stepped foot in a gym in three years.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Dubliner said her divorce from Martin, who was living in Portugal at the time, meant she had to remortgage her home and homeschool her four children, three of whom have been diagnosed with autism.<\/p>\n

\u2018For me, it was a particularly difficult period, and I can only speak for myself personally,\u2019 she said. \u2018But it was very soon after my separation that we went into Covid. My ex-husband was living in Portugal, so I was alone with four kids, tried to homeschool, no work, couldn’t get PUP because I was in the middle of a separation, and if you took PUP, you weren’t entitled to a loan or a mortgage.<\/p>\n

\"FionaFiona O\u2019Carroll in tears as she opens up about split from co-star husband
Pic: RT\u00c9<\/p>\n

\u2018And I had to remortgage, and I was trying to sort all that out. I didn’t earn anything for two and a half years. So it literally ate into everything, and I came out the other end of it, literally like starting from the beginning, all over again, in every way, financially, personally, and romantically, everything, and even getting to know myself again for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u2018It really was just a reset button, and it was like, right, what am I going to do now? I did a lot of counselling for two years.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fiona<\/a> also travelled to Peru and \u2018did a lot of ayahuasca’, spending two years working with plant medicine.<\/p>\n

\u2018I really kind of connected with myself again and reconnected with everything around. I think when you go through a tough separation like that, and everyone deals with a different way, but I know for myself, I became quite lost… I needed to feel alive again.<\/p>\n

\u2018I think I went to a little bit of an extreme. I could describe it as going to hell and back, but I did come back, and I came back stronger and definitely more open to being emotional and being connected to everyone and everything.<\/p>\n

\"PicturedPictured is Joe Gannon, Head of Operations at CHI with Brendan and Jenny O’Carroll, blogger Rosie Connolly Quinn, Paddy Houlihan, Fiona O\u2019Carroll Blathnaid Treacy, Charlie Mooney. Pic: Mark Stedman<\/p>\n

\u2018In some ways, that can be very overwhelming at first and when you’ve kind of shut down, but I’ve now found a balance, and the counselling really, really helped.\u2019<\/p>\n

Speaking ahead of her appearance on RTE\u2019s High Road Low Road, which airs on Tuesday, Fiona revealed she became a Tea Master while on her travels, and also went back to college to study bookkeeping and payroll.<\/p>\n

\u2018I said, right, well, I need to get my act together. I went back to college, and I did a professional diploma in bookkeeping and payroll in preparation of knowing that I wanted to start my own business and I wanted the tools to feel confident about going into that realm of business and having worked alongside my dad, who’s a very shrewd businessman, that helped, and he has a fantastic business head on him, so he was a great support.<\/p>\n

\"FionaFiona O’Carroll and Johnny Ward, High Road Low Road. Pic: RT\u00c9 One <\/p>\n

\u2018I’m on the other end of it now, and I have my own business, and I’m also a Tea Master. So, having worked two years with plant medicine, I knew I wanted to do something and plant-related, I just wasn’t sure what. I met a Tea Master, and I went, Oh, that’s a fascinating job. And I love tea, and I’m Irish.<\/p>\n

\u2018I started to explore that a little bit. And there was a lovely German couple who had a business who wanted to retire. So I took that over, and I am now a Tea Merchant and I’m also a Tea Master.<\/p>\n

\u2018I give tea training to people, which is lovely, and I really enjoy it, because tea is actually a fascinating subject and its history is amazing. I even went and did Celebrity Mastermind.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"FionaFiona O’Carroll on Mastermind. Pic: BBC\/Hindsight\/Hat Trick ProductionsWilliam Cherry\/Presseye<\/p>\n

Martin returned from Portugal to live in Ireland last year, and Fiona said she is ready to find love again after a rocky few years.<\/p>\n

\u2018My ex-husband has just moved back from Portugal, which is great. He’s back now a year, so that has been a huge help. The kids are delighted to have him back, which is amazing, and [him being back] makes for a much easier co-parenting, which is great.<\/p>\n

\u2018I’ve put myself out there romantically, but to be honest, the last two years I have been focusing on business. It’s business, kids, and career. I’m 45, I\u2019m rebuilding my life again, and that takes focus and commitment.<\/p>\n

\"FionaThe Pride of Ireland Awards 2016, Fiona O’Carroll. Pic: VIPIRELAND.com<\/p>\n

\u2018The one thing I have realised is that I was a devil for not asking for help. I was so independent and not in a good way. I’ve now realised that you do need help. You need support. You need to be able to put yourself out there and say, I don’t know the answer. I don’t know what I’m doing here.\u2019<\/p>\n

Viewers will be able to watch Fiona on High Road Low Road on RTE One on Tuesday from 7pm, where she and Johnny Ward<\/a> go on their travels together to Spain.<\/p>\n

\"FionaFiona O’Carroll and Johnny Ward, High Road Low Road. Pic: RT\u00c9 One <\/p>\n

Speaking about the show, Fiona said: \u2018It was great fun. I’ve been very, very lucky that on everything that I’ve worked on with Johnny (Ward), it’s always been great craic. He’s like my little lucky charm when it comes to fun projects.<\/p>\n

\u2018I first met Johnny back when we did Hell Week, and then we did Coppers (The Musical) together, and then we did High Road Low Road. Packing was a nightmare. The only thing they did tell me was the weather, the temperature. So I knew it was going to be warm,\u2019 she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mrs Brown\u2019s Boys star Fiona O\u2019Carroll has said she is ready to find love again after her \u2018traumatic\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-263246","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}