RTE star Miriam O’Callaghan has more going on in her work life now than ever before, but has learned to juggle the pressure of live TV with ease thanks to her children. And regardless of how much she has going on, she’ll always put them first.
“I adore my eight children. I’d like my epitaph to be, ‘she was a good mother.’” she explained to us in this months issue of VIP Magazine.
Having such a busy home life has worked in Miriam’s favour, as it prepared her for the hectic life of the broadcast industry. On a typical night of filming Saturday Night with Miriam, she could be working from 5.30pm and only leave the studio around 1.30am. The presenter has to answer to and deal with countless people in that time, but takes it in her stride.
Speaking to TVNow this week, Miriam said: “I have eight kids. This is easy in comparison. I live in a very busy household, and I always have done. I had my first child at 26, so I’ve never been anything but busy at home.
“Sometimes when I’m on set, there are lots of things going on, but I find that remarkably easy to handle, if I’m honest. I don’t feel stressed by it. I’ve always had lots of demands on my time just from my home life, balancing children and work life. When I’m on the floor, it’s almost less demanding because I’ve fewer people making demands of me.”
Being a mother has also taught Miriam a lot about empathy, and being aware of other people’s emotional needs. She puts this to use on her show.
“On the chat show, you use other parts of your brain which are equally demanding: that’s the empathetic side. You know, you can’t dismiss empathy because when you’re dealing with someone like Kellie Maloney who was once a man, or even Nadia Forde talking about the death of her mother, you have to bring in other qualities which I think are equally important. You’re dealing with people’s emotions, and you can’t upset them or hurt them,” she said.
Despite her career success, Miriam doesn’t take it for granted, but focuses her wishes for the future on the important things in life: her family.
“The most important thing for me is that tomorrow will come. I feel so lucky. There isn’t a morning when I wake up and I’m not grateful for my life and my children’s health. I’m touching wood now as I’m saying this because I don’t take anything for granted,” she admitted.
You can catch full interviews with Miriam in this months copy of VIP, as well as this week’s issue of TVNow.
