Storm Keating has denied claims on the radio today that she has been hiding her ‘real name’.
The drama began when viral weather reporter Teresa Mannion was a guest on 2FM show Breakfast Republic this morning and she spoke about her time in Storm’s native Australia recently.
Speaking to host Jennifer Zamparelli (nee Maguire), she said: “When I was doing Good Morning Australia, the presenters were chatting to me during the break and they were saying, ‘Do you know Ronan Keating?’
“‘He’s married to an Australian’ and I said ‘Oh yeah, Storm’ and they said that’s not her real name. There was a little bit of bitchiness there.”
Jennifer then went on a Google search, and shared the results with listeners. “Storm’s real name is in fact, Sharon,” she exclaimed. “We think. I’ve been googling trying to find it, but it might be Sharon.”
The Bridget and Eamon star also made sure to get a dig in at Ronan Keating’s wife by teasing Teresa, who went global after her dramatic Storm Desmond report, saying she should establish an annual ‘storm’ festival.
“If only there was a celebrity named Storm who is desperate for the limelight who would want to be in it,” Jennifer said. Meow!
However, Storm was not taking the slagging without having her say. She posted her birth cert on Instagram, writing: “My birth certificate for @JenniferMaguire and anyone else who is curious about my name. My parents took the name “Storm” from one of the novels in Wilbur Smith’s first trilogy (a famous South African journalist) because they loved it and have called me Storm since I was born.
“They made my first name “Sharyn” because they were worried that people might make fun of me… turns out they were right. The use of middle names is not uncommon, here’s some more people who go by their middle name.” She finished by giving examples of well-known celebrities, including Brad Pitt, Ashton Kutcher, Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell.
Jennifer has since responded, tweeting her: “Thanks for clearing that up! Wanna come on show tomorrow to talk about it? #breakfastrepublic #2fm #storminateacup.”
Watch this space…