Maia Dunphy has revealed she’ll be donating her Jenny Packham wedding dress to charity in an emotional message.
The RTE presenter wore the dress when she tied the knot with ex hubby Johnny Vegas in 2011.
And taking to Instagram this weekend, Maia explained that it’s time to pass the piece on to somebody else, admitting she knows she won’t ever wear the dress again.
She said: “After donning it one more time to raise a smile (and cash for the @irishcancersociety ) during lockdown, I have realised there’s no point in keeping my insanely beautiful Jenny Packham wedding dress in a bag forever.
“It’s lovely to look at, but I’m never going to wear it again, and fear one day I’ll take it down to find a moth hole in it!
“So I’m going to give it to the Oxfam Ireland bridal shop and hope that someone else gets as much joy out of wearing something so special.
She went on to say she was getting emotional even thinking about parting with it.
She continued: “Welling up even thinking about it!
“Loved this dress so much. And Jaysus, even the cost of dry cleaning it was more than I’d usually spend on a dress.
Friends and fans flocked to her comment section praising the kind gesture with her colleague Deirdre O’Kane commenting: “Have always admired you Maia, never more so than now... you are beautiful inside and out.”
Maia confirmed earlier this year that her and Vegas, who share son Tom, had gone their separate ways.
She told the Sunday Independent: “Johnny and I are not together now. It’s difficult and heartbreaking and a source of daily sadness for me.
“It’s something I am deliberately nebulous about because I don’t want it to define Tom or me, and I don’t want to talk publicly about it.
“Like many people in the same situation, I’m just doing my best to get on with life under painful circumstances.”
Maia admitted she “hesitated” before confirming they had broken up again but wanted to “stop people asking”.
“People want to know if we’re together or not.
“We’re not, so it’s probably time to say so.”
