Bono says he lived on instant mash and airplane food as a teenager after his mother died

Bono has revealed he lived off instant mashed potato and leftover airplane food after his mother died.

The U2 frontman, 65, revealed all on Ruthie’s Table 4 podcast, telling host Ruthie Rogers his diet was very basic after his mother, Iris Hewton, passed away when he was 14.

“After my mother died, I would usually return home with a tin of meat, a tin of beans and a packet of Cadbury’s Smash [instant mashed potato],” he said.

The singer – who is now estimated to be worth an eye-watering £500million – then told Ruthie he was more concerned about spending his money on music.

Bono spoke about his relationship with food on Ruthie’s Table 4 (Getty Images) (Getty Images)

“Thinking back to being a teenager, food was just fuel.

“I would spend my food money on things far more important like Alice Cooper’s Hello Hooray.”

Bono’s brother worked at Dublin airport, and he says he was able to bring back food Aer Lingus didn’t serve.

“The house was two miles away from the runway where my brother Norman worked for Aer Lingus,” he said.

“He had talked them into allowing him to bring home the surplus food from the airline. This was highly exotic fare.

“Gammon steak and pineapple, an Italian dish called lasagne that we'd never heard of or one where rice was no longer a milk pudding but a savoury experience with peas.”

Ruthie Rogers is a renowned chef and presenter, who owns Michelin starred Hammersmith restaurant The River Café.

Bono told Ruthie he unfortunately can’t remember much about his mother, and said his relationship with food definitely changed after she passed away.

“Sadly, I don’t have many memories of my mother cooking or otherwise,” he added.

“After my mother died, we just didn’t speak her name. So it’s hard when you do that to recall these things.

“We certainly had kitchen table dramas, three men arguing a lot because the woman of the house was gone. And I remember my relationship with food changed.”

He says he able to start eating more luxuriously after joining U2, as they would use their expenses on fancy meals out.

“Record companies would give us per diems, which means they pay for you to stay in a hotel up in Manchester or wherever after we had played,” he said.

“But we wouldn’t stay in the hotel, and we would drive back and save up our per diems and use them in nice restaurants.”