How agreeable are you?
Oh, I would say mostly agreeable.
What’s your middle name and what do you think of it?
Elizabeth, and I don’t really think about it a whole lot. When I say it, I like it. I’m just not sure it suits me. It’s kind of posh and fancy. I was called after my great grandmother, Elizabeth, who I never met.
Where is your favourite place in Ireland?
My favourite pace in Ireland is in Wexford. We have a little house on the beach in north Wexford and it is shared with my 14 cousins, built by my grandfather. I have so many summer memories. And now me and my cousins bring our own kids back. It’s my happy place.
Describe yourself in three words
Fun. Hardworking. Adventurous.
When did you last get angry?
Last night when I was trying to put a blind up in the bedroom. Myself and my husband doing DIY jobs together – we should never, ever, ever attempt anything like that again. You’re thinking, “Why did I marry this person?”
What have you lost that you would like to have back?
My grandmothers.
What’s your strongest childhood memory?
Probably standing on the windowsill in our little sittingroom at home in Carlow and performing for anybody who would watch me, or listen to me. My mam, my dad, my brother and sister – who would generally ignore me. So yes, pulling the curtains back and performing to either nobody or some poor unfortunate who was left to look at me.
Where do you come in your family’s birth order, and has this defined you?
I am the second child. When you read up the stereotypes of the second child, I definitely tick the boxes. I didn’t generally like rules as a child. I don’t generally like rules as an adult – except in parenting, I switched that. I was always a little bit out there, a little bit adventurous and a little bit bolder than my older brother. Both my older brother and my youngest sister were head boy and head girl in school, and that sort of just bypassed me.
What do you expect to happen when you die?
I’ll give you the answer that I give my kids – I’m going to turn into a dolphin and swim around the Caribbean. My six-year-old asks this quite a lot. She’s quite obsessed with death at the moment. I haven’t really figured out how to have the bigger conversation. So, that’s currently where I’m at.
When were you happiest?
I’m happy now. I’m in a very happy place in my life. I have the most amazing family. But it’s probably when I found out I had reached 12 weeks in both my pregnancies. Some people say “the day I found out I was pregnant”, but I was never happy that day because it was such a difficult time for us (Kathryn experienced recurrent miscarriages). Actually not even that – I’d say probably the day I held my kids in my arms.
Which actor would play you in a biopic about your life?
Kate Winslet. I rate Kate Winslet as an actress. I think she’s brilliant.
What’s your biggest career/personal regret?
My biggest personal regret is my girls never got to meet their great-grandmothers and they never got to meet their grandmother. I just think grandmothers are amazing and they never got to meet their grandmother on their paternal side.
Have you any psychological quirks?
My husband says I always wake up and the first thing I say is, “What time is it?” I don’t know if that’s that I’m preprogrammed and I’m already in a rush before I even open my eyes. And I always have a list of jobs. There’s jobs for me, for what I need to do. I need to talk my day and week through.
