Margo O’Donnell has revealed that rumours her brother Daniel was actually her son left their mum very upset.
Both Margo, 66, and Daniel, 58, are popular country singers and found fame both at home in Ireland and abroad.
While Margo rose to fame in the 1960s, her younger brother Daniel gained public attention in the early 1980s.
With their fame, however, came a rumour that Daniel, who was recently caught up in a scam, was in fact Margo’s son.
The singer admitted she was never phased by the rumour but her mother was very ‘hurt’ by it
Appearing on RTE One’s Keys To My Life, hosted by Brendan Courtney, Margo took a trip down memory lane and was brought to the home she grew up in with Daniel.
The pair journeyed from ‘Margo’s Mansions’ in Glenamaddy to back to the Fisherman’s Cottage in Kincasslagh.
It was where she spent her childhood and launched her early career as a Showband ‘child star’ back in 1964, when she was just 13 years old.
The pair weren’t alone in their visits as Daniel made a surprise appearance to the home they shared in Ballinteer, Dublin, in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
With her brother beside her, Margo revealed how the pair struggled with rumours about their relationship.
‘They were saying things about me being Daniel’s mother. I would have been ten when I had him!’ she said.
Daniel laughed: ‘We’d have been in the circus, the two of us then.’
Margo added: ‘It didn’t hurt us but it did hurt Mam.’
Margo also opened up about her past addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs, claiming she used them to overcome her stage fright.
‘I started drinking in 1974 and, from the very first drink, I was an alcoholic,’ she said.
‘I had a fear of the stage and I thought I’d found my crutch. There was always a reason for lifting the glass until there was no reason and it was either the glass or me.’
Daniel had tried to intervene, but admitted helping those you love deal with addiction can be tough.
He said: ‘I suppose we were always aware. You think, “Oh, if I hide this or if we don’t go there” … It’s not like that.’