Seeing my face everywhere just made me feel ugly, says Andrea
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Singer Andrea Corr has told how she has always felt uncomfortable with her fame and her tag as one of the most beautiful women in the world.
The mum-to-be has regularly been lauded for her beauty but the 36-year-old has revealed the intense interest in her looks has made her feel very self-conscious.
In a revealing interview with Gay Byrne for his new 'Meaning of Life' series, the Dundalk, Co Louth, singer and actress also reveals it took years for her to get together with her husband, Brett Desmond.
And the star said that achieving worldwide fame in her 20s hadn't bolstered her ego.
She said: "The celebrity thing is very uncomfortable. To suddenly see yourself everywhere when you are almost adolescent in your feelings about yourself and so self-critical, it made me so self-conscious.
"It's like walking through a long corridor of mirrors with two mirrored doors at each end. That led to making me self-conscious.
"The celebrity thing is quite crazy and it makes me want to hide in the corner."
Ms Corr, who has released a new album called 'Lifelines', also plays down her regular slots on the lists of the world's most beautiful women.
She said: "I was very self-critical growing up and seeing yourself everywhere certainly doesn't make you feel beautiful. It is quite strange. It kind of had the opposite effect on me."
The singer, who is expecting her first baby, said she feels very blessed to be making music and performing on stage.
"I'm doubly blessed to do something I love, which is music and theatre. My love, my husband and my friends and family are really what it is all about."
But she confessed that it took years for her to get together with Mr Desmond, despite moving in the same social circles.
"It is quite strange. I had known Brett for a few years. He was friends with (her brother) Jim.
"I knew he was a lovely person. Funnily enough, when we got together, I said to him, 'So we were in each other's company so often -- did you not find me attractive or anything?'
"He said, 'No I thought you were beautiful but I thought you were in the corner writing poetry about death'," she laughed.
"That's what comes from being a bit gothic and hiding behind your hair."
'The Meaning of Life' with Gay Byrne will be shown on RTE One tomorrow at 10.30pm.
- Lynne Kelleher
Irish Independent
