Lottie Ryan has said that people have been making her feel guilty about being Gerry Ryan’s daughter for years.
The RTE 2FM presenter opened up to James Patrice on the DWTS podcast and said that as soon as she stepped into the radio studio, she knew where she was supposed to be.
Gerry died in 2010 from a heart attack aged just 53, with an inquest showing traces of cocaine in his system which was the likely trigger.
Speaking of taking to the airwaves, Lottie said: “Radio kept knocking on the door and I was really adamant that I wasn’t getting involved because I thought ‘they’ll never let me be myself’, I’ll always be compared and the shoes are too big to fill.
“I wasn’t interested in having a life of comparison.
“I wanted to be my own person, I had my own ideas.
“I moved to New York for so long because I just wanted to get away from it.”
However, the 33-year-old said she has learned to ignore what other people think and follow her own path.
She said: “I learned you really need to not care about other people’s opinions and you just have to do what makes you happy and what you’re comfortable with, and what makes you feel at home.
“Only when I got into my 30s I thought wait a minute, I feel like people have been making me feel guilty for who my dad is for so long.
“I’m so proud of my dad.
“If I’ve got an ounce of his talent I’ll be delighted.”
It was an emotional night for all competitors as they danced to a song from a year that had meaning to them.
Ex-Olympian Michael Carruth crashed out of the competition as he looked back to 1992, when he took home Ireland’s first Olympic gold medal in almost 40 years.
Marking the occasion on Sunday night, he and his pro partner Karen Byrne danced a tango to ‘Gold’ by Spandau Ballet - scoring the second lowest score of 13.
However, he said he was thankful to make it this far in the competition after almost having to throw in the towel due to injury in week one.
After his elimination, Michael told Irish Daily Mirror he felt the scoring was too harsh.
He said: “I thought the judging could have been better.
“I thought it was my best dance and Karen thought it was my best dance so I felt the scores were too low.”
