Mrs Brown’s Boys star Fiona O’Carroll has announced she has split up with her husband and co-star Martin Delaney.
O’Carroll, 41 from Dublin, is the daughter of Mrs Brown’s Boys creator and lead actor Brendan O’Carroll and plays Maria Brown in the sitcom.
The actress shares four children with Delaney, 49, from Dublin, who plays Mrs Brown’s youngest son Trevor. The pair’s children are Felix, 14, Eli, 13, Isaac Joseph, 7, and Dexter, 6.
O’Carroll spoke about her split from Delany in RTE Guide’s Christmas preview: “Myself and Martin met very young. I was 16, and I suppose he’s all I’ve ever known and we just kind of grew apart.”
Delaney and O’Carroll got married in May 2006.
The actress added: “There were no major fights, and nobody else was involved but it was a case of not being on the same page any longer.
“I think I hung on for as long as I did because when my own parents broke up, that was very public, and there was a lot of hurt involved there.”
The two actors simply “wanted different things” and continue to co-parent their sons, three of whom are autistic, whilst Delaney lives in Portugal.
O’Carroll said: “I still have a lot of love for him and I only want the best for him and I think he feels the same way about me.”
The actress's father, Brendan O’Carroll married her mother Doreen Dowdall in 1977 and later split in 1999. He then married Jennifer Gibney in 2006 - the actress who plays Cathy Brown in their sitcom.
Mrs Brown’s Boys returns on Christmas Day at 10.20 pm on BBC One.
