'It's the only thing I'm angry about' - Emotional Miriam O'Callaghan tells Late Late Show
RTÉ star Miriam O'Callaghan reveals she's 'still angry' about her sister's death 30 years later in emotional Late Late Show interview
RTÉ star Miriam O'Callaghan fought back tears on last night's Late Late Show as she spoke about losing her younger sister, Anne, at just 33 years old.
The RTÉ broadcaster, who has just released her memoir Miriam: Life, Work, Everything, told host Patrick Kielty that it remains the one thing in her life she's "still angry about."
Opening up about the heartbreaking loss, Miriam said her sister's illness came out of nowhere.
READ MORE | ALERT: Irish consumers urged to check bottles as popular wine recalled over safety fears
"One day, she was sitting on the step of my house around the time we were holding our babies, and she said she didn't feel well," she recalled.
"You know, the way we'd all say, maybe a hangover, or probably normally we'd been out the night before. But anyway, five months later, she died of stomach cancer, and she was only 33. And I remember not being able to comprehend how this could happen in the world."
Fighting emotion, Miriam told Kielty about the moment she realised her family was about to lose someone irreplaceable.
"I remember the day before she died. I was in St Vincent's Hospital, the most amazing hospital. They were brilliant, the nurses and the doctors to her, and I was in the lift with my mum and dad.
"My dad was a man of few words. He was a Kerry man, and he never really showed his emotions. He started to cry, and he just said, 'Miriam, we're losing the jewel in our crown. We're losing the jewel in our crown.'"
The Prime Time presenter said her anger came from seeing how unfair life could be.
"I was so angry, Patrick, because I thought these were country people who've done their best for their children. They sent us to free schools, but believed in education. They never really went out, maybe the civil service dining club twice a year.
"And I was so angry that the world had come along and kicked them in the face, and robbed them of the jewel in their crown."
Miriam said the pain of her sister's death never fully went away.
"I was distraught. It's the only thing in life I'm angry about, and I'm still angry about it. I realise so many other people, and not just in this audience watching, have lost people – but she was only 33, she had two little girls, a two and a four-year-old, a devoted husband, and I just couldn't believe it.
"I realised in that moment, life is just unfair. It's really unfair."
Viewers praised Miriam online for her honesty and composure, with many calling the interview "heartbreaking but beautiful" and "one of her most moving ever.”