Interviews - 'I Owe It All to Yvonne'

She’s the remarkable woman at the centre of pop star Ronan Keating’s personal life.

In a rollercoaster industry that takes a horrendous toll on marriages and relationships, dad-of-two Ronan 27, considers himself a lucky man.

The ex-Boyzone heartthrob says he wouldn’t survive his jet-set lifestyle but for the sacrifice made by his wife Yvonne 30, a top Irish model who abandoned her own career for the benefit of a harmonious family life.

As he celebrates 10 years in pop with the launch of a greatest hits album, Ronan reflects on his good fortune.

“I’d be lost without Yvonne. I don’t know what I’d do without her,” he says.

When asked how they make their marriage work Ronan says commitment is the key.

“You have to take one day at a time,” he reveals.

“I married my wife to be with her and to have a family together. I’ll always get the last flight home every night and the earliest flight out the next morning to be home with my family, even if it’s only to spend five or six hours together."

“I miss them when I’m on the road and I’m lucky that Yvonne is at home looking after the kids. I don’t think I could do what I do otherwise.  This is something we talked through before starting a family."

“Yvonne gave up her career because we wanted to have a family together. It’s what works for us.”

Ronan and Yvonne have two kids, Jack (5) and Marie (3).

“Yvonne wants to be at home looking after the kids,” he reveals.

“If she wanted it in the morning, she could have a career. She does some work, but not full-time and she’s not away.”

It was Yvonne who helped devastated Ronan come to terms with the untimely death of his mother, Marie, in 1998.

The singer admits he could have ended up with a nightmare booze problem had it not been for Yvonne’s support during those dark days.

“Trust is everything in a relationship like ours,” he says.

“When I’m on the road trust is everything and love is everything."

“Everything changed for me when I met Yvonne. I fell in love and my life changed. I found the right person. I got really lucky."

“We’re still learning as a couple, but we give each other a lot of attention. I call her 10 times a day."

“I go on the road to work. I don’t go to after-show parties after the gigs because you do that to find a girl. You get drunk and you get into trouble. We’re all human, so I avoid those things.”

Ronan admits he’s saddened by the break-up of Brian and Kerry McFadden.

“Brian is a friend of mine and so is Kerry. I’ve been around them and they’re a great couple so I can only imagine it’s the pressure of their careers that has caused the problems,” he says.

“It is obviously very difficult because they’re both incredibly successful at the same time and that’s going to create a huge problem in the family because they’re both on the road so much."

“I think they are both broken-hearted at the moment. I think if you got the two of them in a room and got them talking for a few hours, they would figure it out.”

One casualty of Ronan’s solo career has been his relationship with pop manager Louis Walsh. The couple had a very public and extremely bitter falling-out last year and Ronan is adamant that there is no chance of a reconciliation.

“It’s terribly sad but it wasn’t any doing of mine,” says Keating. “I was as courteous and as gentlemanly as I could be towards Louis. A year before the split I went to Louis and I said to him: ‘You’re not managing me. I haven’t seen you. I haven’t heard from you. Can you do something about it?”

“Six months later I opened in Australia and I called him before I went on stage and I said: ‘Louis, do you know I’m in Australia?’ He said no. I said ‘Louis, we need to get this sorted out."

“I went to him and said: ‘Louis, this isn’t working out.’ It was the most difficult decision I ever made in my career, harder than leaving Boyzone."

“I shook hands with him. He just went crazy and off he went. Then he started slagging me off. He was bitter. It just got nasty and awful. I was broken-hearted. He did me immense damage. He ripped me apart in the press. There are a lot of things I could have said about Louis, but it’s not my style.”

Ronan says he’s deeply saddened by the breakdown of his friendship with Walsh. He says: “We were good together and I do miss his company at times. I miss him being at the end of the phone and being able to call him. But I needed a manager as I only had one shot at my career and he had four or five acts. If one failed there was always another.”

Ronan reveals he has been forced to slow down the pace of his life after a scare this summer when his immune system collapsed, leaving him hospitalised. “I was burning the candle at both ends and not giving myself a second,” he explains.

“I ended up as sick as a dog. My face was all swollen. My eye was closed. I was really scared. I looked like the Elephant Man. I couldn’t get out of bed. I had never been in hospital before and it scared the sh*t out of me."

“Now I’m doing a bit less. I’m training. I’m eating very well. Sleep is the best cure for everything. A good night’s sleep.”

Eddie Rowley

Thanks to Ronanno.1!