Miriam O’Callaghan has opened up about keeping her children’s lives out of the public eye.
The RTÉ star, who is mum to eight kids, has admitted that she has to be careful with what she says to the press – using her daughter Alannah McGurk’s recent engagement to Fiachra Breathnach as an example.
“Every journalist in the country has my number… and as a journalist myself, I try to respond whenever they call; but when it came to Alannah’s engagement, I didn’t say anything.
“That’s hers,” Miriam told the Sunday Independent Life Magazine.
Private: Miriam wants to keep mum on her kid’s lives | VIPIRELAND.COM
“My nature is that I never stop talking… and I put my life out there because I think secrets are a bad idea, I think they eat you up inside, and most people know most things about me, but you do have to be careful when it comes to your adult children,” she admitted.
Miriam’s brood includes Alannah, Clara, and twins Jessica and Georgia, who she had with ex-husband, journalist Tom McGurk.
The broadcaster is also mum to four boys Conor, Daniel, Jack and Jamie, with husband Steve Carson.
As her children continue to grow older, Miriam has become more and more conscious about how being in the public eye can affect your children’s lives – especially when they become adults themselves.
“The older my children get, the more conscious I am that they live private lives, and that there’s a knock-on effect of having a parent in the public eye.
Family: Miriam is particularly conscious of her older kid’s private lives | VIPIRELAND.COM
“There are pluses, but they are very often outweighed by the minuses. Not for me – I find people lovely, and I’m still waiting for that person to walk up and be mean – but for my children,” she said.
Miriam also admitted that her youngest are still curious about why people want to talk to her as a public figure.
“My youngest is still curious about it. He’ll still say, ‘Why did that person want to talk to you?’ if someone comes up. Like, ‘Why do they want to talk to you; you’re just buying Coco Pops?’
“But my older teenagers, I think they’re conscious and self-conscious when I collect them from school. They are very aware that their mother is well-known and part of that means that people come up,” she revealed.
Mammy: Miriam is mum to eight kids | VIPIRELAND.COM
While the 56-year-old admitted that she thinks most people have her family’s best interest at heart – she still needs to be careful.
“Now, I believe, firmly, that 99.99pc of the world’s population is kind and means well. And if lovely things happen in your family, they want to wish you well. But I have chosen to live my life in the public eye, not my children.
“Maeve Binchy once said she would never write an autobiography because she lived a ‘shared life’. And I live a shared life. I have siblings and a mother and niece and nephews and Steve, but I have children, and they are affected by my living my life in the public eye.
“I didn’t start out planning thiS. I began as a solicitor and I then went into the backroom-boys-and-girls section of TV, so I never set out to have a public life.
Unexpected: Miriam never set out for a career in the public eye | BRIAN MCEVOY
“I slipped into it, and then one day you wake up and realise you are well-known, and that means that anyone associated with you has to live with that. And if your adult children live private lives, I’m very conscious that this is difficult,” she explained.
To conclude her argument, Miriam admitted that she was very happy for daughter, following her engagement – but she said nothing more.
“So I’m very happy for Alannah and her gorgeous fiancé. “And I’m thrilled about it because they’re so happy, and I’m so happy for them,” she gushed.
