Tommy Tiernan has told of his “estranged” and “distant” relationship with his late mother.
The top comedian, who lived in three different countries before the age of seven, said he “wasn’t close” with his mum Helen, who passed away in 2010.
“She was a remarkable, brave lady, but from an early age I realised that there was a gap between what I needed and what I was getting.
“I think it’s important to be able to say that publicly, not so much for myself, but for other women. Some women find motherhood very difficult and they never settle into it, it’s not part of their gift,” he told the RTE Guide.
The Derry Girls star added: “And there can be cultural pressure to say that all mammies are fantastic. But a lot of people don’t have wonderful mothers and it’s important to register that. So that was a huge factor in my life, that I had an estranged and distant relationship with my mother.”
Tommy, 49, said he has been in therapy since he was a teenager in boarding school at Garbally College in Galway.
“I was about 16 and it was the first time in my like that I began to feel, well I suppose depressed. I got into this vicious cirlce of obsessional thinking (about a girl).”
The RTE star, who is back on our screens every Saturday night with The Tommy Tiernan Show, said he still goes to therapy, “every three or four years I might do six month.”
“Maybe there’s some mother deficit I grew up with and it’s very difficult for a wife to be a companion, lover, mother, confidant and so on. The female therapist, is every now and again, a vital component in my life.”
Tommy revealed he will be celebrating his 50th birthday next month during a 10-day silent retreat.
“It is a Buddist meditative retreat; 10 days of silence which puts me in a great place. The thing is that the only one coming up is on my birthday. Now, my birthday is not only on Bloomsday, but also Father’s Day and I will be alone in a monastery in County Clare staring at a wall.”
The father-of-six also admitted he’s “looking forward to becoming a grandad whenever that happens. I love kids and I feel blessed to have had so many of them.”
