Rory Cowan has opened up about how his mother’s illness was priority when it came to leaving Mrs Brown’s Boys.
The funnyman shocked fans by leaving the show back in July, after he stated he was no longer happy on the show.
Now, the actor has opened up about his ill mother and how travelling made it difficult to look after her.
“When I was in Australia last year in January, I was told my mother had days to live. I couldn’t get home because I was on the other side of the world,” Rory explained to VIP and others.
“She’s still alive, but she’s getting worse, and if I stayed with the show we’d be back to Australia. There is no way on god’s earth I’d go over there again with my mother in the state that she’s in.
“I’ve done all the gigs and the big places… It’s not going to get bigger for Mrs Brown’s Boys. It’s going to just be doing the same massive big arena’s an I’ve done them all,
“My mother is not going to be here forever, so I made a choice. It was a no brainer for me.”
Rory’s explained that there were other issues with working on the show, but his mother Esther’s deteriorating health was a big factor.
“It was just part of the choice because I wasn’t happy in Mrs Brown’s Boy’s anyway.
“There’s more important things, my mother is here in Ireland, and she’s dying god love her, she’s got dementia, and half the time she doesn’t even recognise me. So when she does go I want to have no regrets.
“I’ve got three carers in with her every day and I’m doing the best I can, so that when she’s gone I can say I did everything I could to make her comfortable, I wouldn’t be able to say that if I was off making a fortune in Australia, I’ve made my fortune so I don’t need to do it anymore.”
The actor, who was speaking at the Suicide Or Survive National CommuniTEA break event, added that if he wasn’t home to say goodbye to the 84-year-old he’d struggle to cope with it.
“I was unhappy with the touring, going back to Australia three times in four years is just too much, there were other markets we were big in that we were ignoring, like Canada and America and I feel we should have been doing them.
“Maybe it’s just me thinking that if you go to Australia you can’t come home every weekend like you can in the UK. I can tour the UK and I can get home every weekend and see [my mother].”
Rory added that there were a number of issues, but his relationship with creator Brendan O’Carroll, was not one of them.
“There were things that were out of my control, and I just thought ‘this is a waste of time’. We’re doing things again and again and we’re going around the same circuits.
“If I stayed in Mrs Brown’s Boys I’d have known where I was going to be in 2022, and I just thought, there is no enjoyment for me anymore.
“It was nothing to do with Brendan O’Carroll, I adore that man. I think he’s the funniest comedian I’ve ever seen. There was no bad feelings there and I really want to stress that, there was no falling out with Brendan, I was just unhappy there.”
