The Lord of the Dance legend, 68, had known Niamh O’Brien for more than a decade before their relationship turned into a romance during a party he held in 2005
“My heart is broken,” Michael Flately said as he mourned his wife’s death on Monday. “I have lost my beautiful wife, Niamh, and my best friend. My gorgeous bride of twenty years has gone to the Lord in Heaven.”
The Lord of the Dance legend, 68, had known Niamh O’Brien, 52, for more than a decade before their relationship turned into a romance during a party he held in 2005.
“I couldn’t stop putting my arm around her all night,” he had told Hello! magazine in 2007. “It felt different – much stronger than friendship. As 2006 progressed, we spent more and more time together, and I knew there was no way I could let this woman go.”
The couple wed just four months later at St Patrick’s Church in Fermoy, Co Cork in an elaborate ceremony attended by 250 guests.
Prior to finding love with Niamh, Michael had a checkered past with women. His first 11-year marriage to Polish hairdresser artist Beata Dziaba ended after his affair with 19-year-old dancer Kelley Byrne was exposed.
Following his marriage break-up, he became involved with socialite Lisa Murphy, who he proposed to while they enjoyed a romantic Monte Carlo getaway in 2002. Their on-off relationship ended by 2006.
Michael had first met Niamh on the set of Riverdance in 1993 and described her as being one of his “best friends” and that there had always been chemistry between them, but the “timing was never right”.
Over the years, Niamh shared the stage with Michael and performed alongside him, even ascending to leading lady in Lord of the Dance.
The couple welcomed their son, Michael Saint James, a year after their wedding and settled at 18th century mansion Castle Hyde.
He later spoke about how much his life had changed in five years since getting married a second time and becoming a father.
“I was on the road all the time, chasing women, out drinking with my buddies and living the bachelor life,” he told the Daily Mail in 2009. “Now 6am comes and Michael is jumping on my tummy shouting at me to rebuild the track for Thomas the Tank Engine.”
Michael often spoke adoringly about his wife Niamh and told Piers Morgan on his Life Stories show that he was the “luckiest guy in the world“.
“I’m so proud to have her by my side,” he said. “She knew me. Niamh knows what it’s like being on the road, she knows how bad things get.”
The couple would have celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary later this month and Michael previously spoke of his plans for the milestone.
He told RSVP Magazine in January: “On our 10th anniversary we renewed our vows in Westminster Cathedral, because at the time my son was going to Westminster Cathedral Choir School.”
“I have something very special planned for the 20th to renew our vows. I shouldn’t have just said that, my wife is going to know all about this! But I won’t say what it is and I won’t tell her. I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”
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