‘I was often overlooked’: Lucy Kennedy blasts RTE for not giving her any ‘big gigs’

She shot to fame on RTÉ’s The Podge and Rodge Show but Lucy Kennedy says she was overlooked by the national broadcaster.

Although she has gone on to have a flourishing career across RTÉ TV and radio before moving to TV3, Lucy says bosses at RTÉ never gave her a chance to show what she could do.

Speaking to the Irish Daily Mail, she said: “I was there for eight years, and I don’t want to seem like a bitter fool, because I’m not, but looking back on my time at RTÉ I remember wondering why I wasn’t asked to audition for The Voice of Ireland or The All-Ireland Talent Show or any of these big gigs. I was often overlooked.”

Overlooked: Lucy Kennedy says she was never asked to audition for RTE’s big jobs during her time at the station | Cathal Burke / VIPIRELAND.COM 

And she even admitted that her worries over why she wasn’t chosen for bigger gigs lead to her breaking down in tears.

“I’d say for a good four years I panicked about what I was going to do next,” she said. “I actually cried thinking that maybe they don’t like me for who I am, but I can’t change.”

Meanwhile, Lucy – who now presents The Seven O’clock Show on TV3 – is currently pregnant with her third child with husband Richard Governey and insists this will be their last.

She explained: “There was a point, years ago, when I was like, ‘I’m going to do a Miriam O’Callaghan on it’. Naively, before I even had children I thought I’d go for eight kids. Now, it’ll be three and then it’s off to Dogs Trust for a puppy.”

Not following in her footsteps: Lucy used to want eight kids like Miriam O’Callaghan but is now happy with three | VIPIRELAND.COM 

And while Lucy turned 40 this year, she isn’t finding this pregnancy any harder than the others.

“Being pregnant at 40 is no big deal,” she said. “I’m in the Coombe with obstetrician Hugh O’Connor, who is like a god to me, and I’m the average age of his patients, if not one of the younger ones waiting on the corridor.
“It’s funny, five years ago, I was thinking, oh my god, I’m pregnant and pretty much a granny, but now I’m not batting an eyelid.”