Born: May 3rd, 1974 Died: October 5th, 2026<\/p>\n
Niamh Flatley<\/a> was part of an extraordinary reawakening of Irish dancing<\/a>. A member of the original Riverdance<\/a> troupe that brought an international audience to its feet at the 1994 Eurovision in Dublin<\/a>, she had been dancing since the age of three. <\/p>\n Raised by schoolteachers Tommy and Monica O\u2019Brien, in Kilbride, Co Meath<\/a>, her early life showed a passion for Irish dancing, in which she was guided by the world-renowned teacher Marie Duffy-Pask. <\/p>\n Throughout her youth she pursued Irish dancing to the highest competitive levels and by the age of 17 was placed fourth in the World Irish Dancing Championships. <\/p>\n She first met her future husband, Michael Flatley<\/a>, on the set of Riverdance and was in the troupe that performed the now historic seven-minute dance during the interval of the Eurovision in 1994. <\/p>\n Niamh later joined Flatley\u2019s global stage shows, where she played the lead role of Saoirse in Lord of the Dance. She went on to perform in Flatley\u2019s expanded, stadium-scale version of the show, Feet of Flames, in front a live audience of 25,000 people, in London\u2019s Hyde Park.<\/p>\n While the part of Saoirse in the Hyde Park performance was played by Bernadette Flynn, Niamh O\u2019Brien Flatley did dance the lead in the Feet of Flames 2000\u20132001 World Tour. She also played the lead in Flatley\u2019s third, large-scale Irish dance stage production Celtic Tiger, which had its global debut in July 2005, at the Pusk\u00e1s Stadion in Budapest. The show made its US debut later that, at Madison Square Garden in New York City.<\/p>\n Having known Niamh for more than a decade as a close friend and performer, Flatley said everything suddenly clicked on New Year\u2019s Eve 2005. The couple were married in St Patrick\u2019s Church in Fermoy, Co Cork in 2006, with their reception at Flatley\u2019s mansion, Castlehyde.<\/p>\n During the wedding ceremony Fr Aidan Troy read a blessing from Pope Benedict. Niamh Flatley wore a simple pearl necklace and a vintage beaded Badgley Mischka dress said to have cost \u20ac100,000. The wedding ring, a band of gold \u2013 cost an estimated \u20ac360,000. The engagement ring, made of Irish gold and commissioned in Chicago, is thought to have cost at least twice as much. <\/p>\n The couple had a son, Michael St James Flatley, in 2007. She stepped back from professional dancing before the birth of their son although she remained active behind the scenes in Flatley\u2019s professional life. <\/p>\n She gave few interviews about her life in the world of international dance, and seemingly none in relation to her family life. During his emotional funeral eulogy on October 10th at the Church of St Th\u00e9r\u00e8se in Mount Merrion, Dublin, Flatley, himself seldom shy in front of the media, said his wife strongly protected her family. He said she would explicitly warn him not to make comments or share public information, especially about her illness, that would upset her parents. <\/p>\n [\u00a0Michael Flatley pays tribute to his wife Niamh O\u2019Brien at funeral MassOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n Following her death Mairead Egan, one of her best friends, said she was \u201cjust one of those people you felt lucky to know\u201d. <\/p>\n Egan said Flatley had \u201csuch a warmth about her and was a real lady. She was incredibly kind, very funny, wonderfully generous, and, above all, just a genuinely lovely person.\u201d Egan said people sometimes didn\u2019t see the Niamh behind all the success and her husband\u2019s celebrity. <\/p>\n \u201cHer family was everything to her.\u201d <\/p>\n Egan said \u201ceveryone felt welcome around Niamh\u201d who had \u201ca mischievous side to her that people who knew her well will really miss.\u201d<\/p>\n Flatley has also spoken of how he relied on her advice. He said as far back as Riverdance they would talk for hours. He also said when he had been gripped with anxiety before taking the stage at New York\u2019s Madison Square Garden, it was Niamh who calmed and encouraged him. He said her sharp intelligence made his professional and personal life significantly better. <\/p>\n Twelve years ago Niamh Flatley developed the connective tissue disease, scleroderma. It led to difficulty breathing. <\/p>\n At her funeral, Flatley recounted how she had initially been given just two years to live. He told the congregation that over the past year he had tried to reassure her, telling her to \u201cfocus not on the storm, focus on the hand of the Lord\u201d.<\/p>\n As recently as late April the family had travelled to meet Pope Leo and she was in Scotland in August while Lord of the Dance was touring the UK.<\/p>\n Sources close to the family said she had suffered stress arising from the acrimonious battle for control of the Lord of the Dance show between her husband and his former business partners.<\/p>\n In an affidavit opened to the High Court in Belfast earlier this year, Denis O\u2019Sullivan, a consultant working with Michael Flatley, alleged one of Flatley\u2019s former business partners was verbally abusive to Niamh Flatley at a meeting last November.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was particularly distressing given that Mrs Flatley was seriously ill that day and required an oxygen mask throughout the meeting,\u201d he said. This allegation was later denied.<\/p>\n