Riverdance star Michael Flatley has revealed he and his wife share a romantic dinner every Friday evening, and he dresses up for the occasion in a tuxedo.
The dance legend was speaking to Hello magazine when he revealed the quirky ritual: “Niamh and I will have dinner in the formal dining room every Friday night when we are in Castlehyde. I will wear a suit and tie or a tuxedo. We really dress up. I don’t understand people who say they can’t wait to get home and throw on sweats.
“I married my wife because she is the most important person in the world. If there is ever a time to dress up, it’s for your wife. I get out some gin and take my time preparing the perfect martini and listen to some Frank Sinatra and wait for her to come downstairs.”
The couple married in 2006 and it’s nice to see they are still willing to make the effort for each other. They live at CastleHyde, a huge mansion in Cork that was once the home of the first President of Ireland Douglas Hyde. Flatley spotted the luxury property from a helicopter while flying over Cork 15 years ago and immediately knew that he wanted to live there, explaining: “As soon as I saw it I could feel the little hairs going up on the back of my neck.”
Fred Astaire used to dance down the staircase
Since purchasing the home, Flatley has played host to numerous stars of the entertainment world. In fact, his staircase has been stage for some of the most successful dancers in history. Flatley told an amusing story about when Michael Jackson visited his home: “When I mentioned to Michael Jackson that Fred Astaire used to dance down the staircase, the first thing he wanted was to dance down it too.
“As soon as he got in the car to go home that’s the first thing I did. Just to have it on record that I’d done it too.”
He went on to reveal that once he and his wife have enjoyed their formal Friday dinners, he enjoys relaxing in his library with a classic novel, particularly Irish literature. So much so that his wife has to stop him from idling away the rest of the night with a book in his hand: “My wife has to stop me. Especially after a couple of martinis. She’ll say, ‘You’re not going to read that James Joyce book again are you? You’ve read it 400 times’.”
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Written by Andrew Moore