Pippa O'Connor: I felt I was written off as a model while pregnant
She's been one of Ireland's top models for over a decade but Pippa O'Connor has revealed she felt as though she was being "written off" from her career while she was pregnant with her son Ollie.
The Kildare native (30), who has since become an award-winning fashion and beauty blogger, said she felt under pressure to regain her pre-pregnancy figure before she had even given birth.
"I definitely had stages of panic during and after pregnancy," the blonde explained.
"I found, especially when I was pregnant, I was kind of being wrote off already - people were saying 'You won't be back to do that job in May will you?' and I was thinking 'I don't know, I've never done this before but I would like to think I will'.
"I found it very up and down, with a lot of pressures."
While she still models occasionally, Pippa is now a full-time blogger with her own cosmetics range and she admitted she thanks her presenter husband Brian Ormond for "pushing" her to follow her dreams.
"I was just thinking that I'd have this little blog, but Brian said 'If you're going to do it, why don't you do it properly and spend a bit of money on it to get a proper website'. So he definitely did give me a push," she said.
"I'm a great one for ideas and Brian is a real do-er so we work well like that. I know I have these great ideas but Brian pushes me to fulfill them."
Speaking on the Brendan O'Connor Show on RTE Radio One, Pippa said she's still "in denial" over her mother Louise's sudden death last October and has been throwing herself into work.
surreal
"I think I'm still [working my way through the grief] to be honest. I'm busier than ever," she said.
"It's not even a year yet and I think I probably still feel a little bit in denial. It's still very surreal and you think you just haven't seen that person in a while.
"It's strange. I'm sure it doesn't get easier, you just learn how to cope with it differently."