Comedy legend Brendan O’Carroll has spoken about the pain of losing his first son and admitted it has left a hole in his life that will never be filled.
The Mrs Brown’s Boys writer was speaking on the Tommy Tiernan Show and opened about the heartache he has faced throughout his life.
O’Carroll and his first wife Doreen welcomed their first child Brendan Jr in 1979. However, tragically he had spina bifida and died just a few days after his birth.
They went on to have three more children, but O’Carroll admits they cannot fill the hole of the son they lost.
In an emotional interview, O’Carroll said: “I was really young when my son died. He was my first child and like everyone else, I had all these things figured out in my head – the white picket fence, swing in the garden, he’d play football just like his dad and I’d go to the games with him.
“But it changed overnight. It leaves a hole.
“I’m very lucky to have three fantastic kids, but they don’t fill that gap. Not that you’d want them to, but they don’t.”
O’Carroll also spoke about the huge influence his mother had on him growing up, after he lost his father when he was aged just nine.
He was the youngest of 11 children and admits he was very close to his mother. He said: “I adored my mother. My dad died when I was only nine, so I grew up with my mother. It was me and her. I was the youngest of the kids.”
However, despite his love and admiration for his mother, O’Carroll has a unique way of coping with her death and celebrating her life.
He added: “I had this weird thing and I don’t want to blow your mind.
“She was a very sharp woman and she would see things coming down the line.
“I’d be trying something and she’d know if it was going to work and she would say ‘bring this to a close’. You always had to finish things with her and move on.
“So I never failed. The best thing she did for me was die.
“She died when I was 28 and for the first five years every thing I touched went to crap, and I thought I was a loser.
“I started to realise it was only in the losing and in failing that you learn. You learn nothing in succeeding.”
Tiernan also asked O’Carroll how he feels about the huge success he has enjoyed with Mrs Brown’s Boys over the past decade.
Take a look at a short clip of the interview below.
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