Brian Kennedy has opened up about his turbulent relationship with his family.
The singer revealed that he chose to be estranged from his parents and other family members due to various issues.
Explaining the situation he said: “When the choices are estrangement or dysfunction I’m going to choose estrangement every single time.”
“If you think about where I came from, there was a lot of violence on the street, even violence coming from certain members of the Church, and violence inside the home too. So it was a very dangerous place for me to be.
“There was no point of respite anywhere. So I learnt to be very independent. I left home when I was 14 really, 15, to live with granny and then she died and then I was gone. I went to England.”
Brian appeared on Brendan O’Carroll’s Cutting Edge, alongside Norah Casey and Niamh Horan.
He told of how he decided to make peace with his brother when he was terminally ill, and decided to get back in touch with other family members.
“I decided because my brother had passed away and I managed to reconnect with him before he died, I thought to myself it’s an important thing to do,” he said.
“It’s not what’s the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do – what’s the kindest thing to do? So I wanted to reconnect with them.”
When his brother organised a meeting for the family at the house, Brian says his mother did not know him.
“Let’s just say that there’s a lot of ill health going on there now with various alcohol issues and mental health things and so on,” revealed Brian. “My mother didn’t know me at all, at all.”
“She didn’t know who I was at all. She kept saying things like, ‘Are you married love?’ Slowly but surely that all came about that she clearly just didn’t know me. When my brother dropped her home she said, ‘Who was that tall fella with the lovely dark hair?’ He said, ‘Oh, that’s Brian’ and [she said], ‘Who’s he?'”
Brian describes the meeting as ‘bittersweet’ but says there was ‘forgiveness all round’.
The singer received huge praise on social media for opening up about such a difficult topic.
“I see Brian Kennedy in a new light on Cutting Edge, totally understand the complexity of families!” one user said.
“God Brian, I admire your honesty so SO much,” another commented.
Another said: “Incredible honesty and openness from Brian Kennedy on #CuttingEdge this evening.”
