Cecelia Ahern has revealed that growing up in the public eye has made her careful of who to trust.
As the daughter of former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Cecelia has always been used to fame but admitted it didn’t really hit her util her debut novel PS I Love You was published.
“It completely changed my life,” she said.
“I had just got a degree in journalism and media communications, was still living at home and it was time to start looking for a job.”
Fame: Cecelia wrote her debut novel at the tender age of 21 | PHOTOCALL IRELAND
“I wanted to do film production but decided to write PS, I Love You instead, as the idea was taking over my mind,” she told the Irish Examiner.
“All of a sudden, I had a career, I had to travel the world, I was published in 47 countries. It was a two-book deal, so I had to begin writing another book.”
Cecelia’s way of coping with the pressures of fame was to write more stories but often felt the process was “overwhelming”.
“I think my way of coping with everything was just wanting to get back to my desk to write more stories. So I wrote one a year, sometimes two. It was overwhelming, but not in a negative way.”
Success: Cecelia found the success of her writing career overwhelming
“Myself and my sister were a lot more aware of other people, of being looked at. It made us careful about who to trust.”
Meanwhile, Warner Bros. has optioned the movie rights to Cecelia’s young adult series, Flawed and Perfect.
“I was trying to explain where I was at when I wrote PS, I Love You. People couldn’t understand how I could write a book like that at 21,” she said.
“At that time, I was at a vulnerable stage and very much trying to figure out who I was,” she said.
“It was something I struggled with for a couple of years that made me very introspective and made me think about what’s going on in other people’s minds, but everything’s fine now.”
