The Dublin actress was married twice before coming out as a lesbian in her 40s
Mrs Brown’s Boys star Eilish O’Carroll has told how her eldest son said he was “very angry” with her for not coming out sooner to her children.
The Dublin actress, who recently appeared in Dancing With The Stars, was married twice before coming out as a lesbian in her 40s.
The 67-year-old, who has two sons, has now been with her partner Marian O’Sullivan since 2003.
Best known for her role as Winnie McGoogan in the hit sitcom, Eilish told how she made a special trip back to the UK to come out to her two sons.
“I had been living in Ireland for quite a number of years and I made a journey back to the UK to tell them,” she told RSVP Magazine.
“I knew in my heart and soul that they had an idea, but I had never uttered the words. I took them out for dinner and told them to box off a bit of time so I could talk to them alone.
“They had seen the warning signs and they didn’t make it easy for me to tell them on the night because they talked about everything else.”
Brendan O’Carroll’s older sister added: “After dinner, I composed myself and I told them. There was total silence and after two minutes my eldest son said: “I am very, very angry with you.”
I told myself not to cry because that would disarm their honesty.
He said that he wasn’t angry because I was gay, he told me that he already knew, he was angry because I never gave them the opportunity to be there for me before I left my husband. It wasn’t about trusting them, it was about my inability to accept myself.”
Eilish admitted she was “expecting to be rejected” before adding, “I was foolishly trying to protect myself and to protect them.”
Eilish O'Carroll, left, playing Winnie McGoogan beside Brendan O'Carroll's Mrs Brown in Mrs Brown's Boys (Image: BBC Studios/Alan Peebles)
The Dublin actress, who recently appeared in Dancing With The Stars, was married twice before coming out as a lesbian in her 40s.
The 67-year-old, who has two sons, has now been with her partner Marian O’Sullivan since 2003.
Best known for her role as Winnie McGoogan in the hit sitcom, Eilish told how she made a special trip back to the UK to come out to her two sons.
“I had been living in Ireland for quite a number of years and I made a journey back to the UK to tell them,” she told RSVP Magazine.
“I knew in my heart and soul that they had an idea, but I had never uttered the words. I took them out for dinner and told them to box off a bit of time so I could talk to them alone.
“They had seen the warning signs and they didn’t make it easy for me to tell them on the night because they talked about everything else.”
Brendan O’Carroll’s older sister added: “After dinner, I composed myself and I told them. There was total silence and after two minutes my eldest son said: “I am very, very angry with you.”
I told myself not to cry because that would disarm their honesty.
He said that he wasn’t angry because I was gay, he told me that he already knew, he was angry because I never gave them the opportunity to be there for me before I left my husband. It wasn’t about trusting them, it was about my inability to accept myself.”
Eilish admitted she was “expecting to be rejected” before adding, “I was foolishly trying to protect myself and to protect them.”
The star said that her husband was her “biggest supporter” and they pair had been together for 12 years before she ended the marriage.
“He wasn’t the father of the boys but he adopted them and we had a solid marriage as husband and wife. It was very hard to say ‘I have a bit of a problem, I can’t stay in the marriage’ because it undermined me as a person.
Eilish said the couple are still on friendly terms and the continue to co-parent together.
“He was my second husband and we always said no matter what happened that we would always be ther for each other.”