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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Entertainment
Verity Sulway & Siobhan Macdonald

Ronan Keating's affair with backing dancer before wife met up with her for showdown

Irish singer Ronan Keating found international fame with the pop group Boyzone at the age of just 16.

The Dubliner went on to marry his first wife four years later.

The No Matter What singer tied the knot with model Yvonne Connolly in 1998, and they share three children - Jack, now 22, Missy, 20, and Ali, 16.

But things weren't always smooth sailing for the couple.

As ten years into their marriage their relationship hit the rocks when Ronan had an affair with his backing dancer, Francine Cornell.

Yvonne didn't take the news lying down as she confronted her husband's mistress in a hotel room, resulting in a dramatic confrontation where the police were called.

As reported in The Mirror, Yvonne said that she found out about the affair when she checked heir phone bills, just before they were supposed to be moving into a new house together.

Appearing on Brendan O'Connor's Cutting Edge in 2018, Yvonne said: "We were about to move into our new house. So, no, I didn’t see it coming at all.

"I did get in touch with the girl involved, and I arranged to meet her in a hotel - my hotel, which she did."

"I just needed answers. I just needed the truth, and I needed to make sure stories collaborated. It was very hard to figure out who you can trust.

"So this was the answer to it. I was going to meet this girl, a quick 20-minute conversation, and we’d be done and dusted.

"And in fairness to her, she came and met me. But the 20-minute conversation turned into a couple of bottles of wine.

"After a few hours I realised she needed it as much as I did and I know it sounds very dramatic, but she was as much as a victim as I was. I think we both got something from it."

After the women chatted for hours, they hugged each other and said goodbye having bonded over their shared heartbreak.

"When I look back, this is what it all boils down to: it was basically two girls in love with the same boy who over a five-hour conversation realised that that boy was not who we thought he was," she added.

However, the police turned up at one point to check on Francine's wellbeing after her mum panicked when she hadn't heard from her.

Yvonne and Ronan divorced in 2015, but Ronan maintained his affair was not the sole reason they split and implied the couple had marital issues beforehand.

Ronan Keating with Yvonne in 2011 (Getty Images for DIFF)

Opening up in a detailed Facebook post in 2016, Ronan wrote: "There is a lot more to it than an affair and obviously it was broken well before then.

"There are always two people in a relationship and if it’s not ­working there’s more than one good reason.

"I will not stand for complete misrepresentation of my truth and my heart anymore. After six years I draw a line."

He continued: "There is a lot more to my situation than people will ever know & that's the way it should be.

"But there are always two people in a relationship and if it's not working there's more than one good reason for it."

Yvonne and Ronan separated in 2010 and their divorce was finalised in 2015, the same year he married his current wife, Storm Keating.

He also confirmed he had been misquoted in an interview and insisted he did not wish to apologise to his wife.

A Daily Telegraph interview quoted the 44-year-old as saying: "Nobody should have an affair. If you're man enough to have the balls to go home and say, 'Sorry, this isn't working anymore,' that's the ideal situation, isn't it?

"But we're weak. We don't do that. So yes, I hurt people and I am sorry for that hurt, but the outcome is I found Storm and I'm very grateful. But I'm saying sorry."

However, Ronan contradicted the quotes, writing: 'Not once did I say I was apologising to my ex wife or saying sorry for the affair.

"I said I was sorry for all the hurt it had caused, to which I truly am."

Ronan emphasised that he has now found happiness with Storm, with whom he shares son Cooper, five, and daughter Coco, two.

The couple were recently caught in a scandal after a cleaner accused them of failing to pay for £500 bill.

Ronan and Storm hit back as they posted shocking photos of the state the house was left in after they say the cleaner failed to properly clean the place even after increasing the bill.

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