Irish music star admits he 'went off the rails' after death of his mother

Danny O’Donoghue has spoken about the grief he felt at losing his mother and has encouraged other men to share their feelings and not struggle alone.

The Script frontman was working as a judge on talent show The Voice at the time his mother Ailish suffered a brain haemorrhage.

Following his successful music career with the Script, Danny O’Donoghue was becoming a household name thanks to his position on the primetime show.

However, he didn’t think twice about his career and stepped down from his role to care for his mother.

Danny spoke to chat host Ryan Tubridy in 2019 about the difficult period in his life.

He said: “I was on The Voice. I was a judge on The Voice, and I was on the second season and our star was really rising.

“But my mum had a brain haemorrhage and we just closed the castle gates around her. So I came off the television, and we closed everything off around her.”

Tragically, Danny’s mother passed away. Her funeral took place on Valentine’s Day, on the ten-year anniversary of Danny’s father’s funeral.

The Dubliner admitted he ‘went off the rails’ after losing his mam.

He said: “We’ve had a hell of a year from, you know, break-ups to the births of children to the deaths of parents. I went off the rails grieving for my own mum.”

“Ah, just… You don’t want to know. Just going off the rails. Turning to drink, just wanting to forget about everything, just wanting to really blot it all out.”

“I went to a very dark place. The guys band were… I can only go to those dark places when the boys have me firmly by the ankles, though.”

Danny’s bandmate Glen Power also suffered the loss of one of his parents recently. His father passed away just six weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

However, the drummer is grateful that his family had time to prepare and spend some time together with his father.

He said: “I feel really blessed in a way because I got to have some really great moments with him. I got time with him in a way that I wouldn’t have if I had just got a phone call to say your dad has passed away.”

After a tough year for the members of the Script, the lads spoke about the difficulty some men can have at letting out their feelings, particularly when grieving.

Danny said: “It’s really, really, really important that you get it out and that you talk about it – amongst yourselves, and to your wife, to your boyfriend, to your husband, to anybody.

“Because I believe there’s a difference in grief when a woman is talking to another woman – they’re amazing to just open up and they can just cry and stuff.

“But, you know, when a woman’s talking to a man about it, it’s almost like the man feels like, ‘I’m letting you down. And you’re not going to feel like I’m the soldier in your eyes if I tell you that I’m grieving’.”

Here is a clip from the show, where Danny explains how the song-writing process has always helped the bandmembers deal with their emotions.

Irish music star admits he ‘went off the rails’ after death of his mother

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