Sheila O’Flanagan has opened up about her decision to marry her long-term partner, Colm, after they had already been living together for over 30 years.
The bestselling author, known for writing novels like The Honeymoon Affair and What Eden Did Next, as well as her newest book, Secrets Between Friends, tied the knot with her husband back in 2014, choosing to wear a gorgeous purple dress for the intimate ceremony.
She sat down with RSVP Magazine and spoke about her relationship, revealing what made her say ‘yes’ to Colm.
“[Colm] was separated, and he had left his wife before the divorce. So when we were together first, we couldn’t get married, and then when we could, we thought why bother?” Sheila said.
“It wasn’t that one of us wanted to get married and the other didn’t, I just thought there was no need, we were perfectly happy the way we were. But my mother kept saying ‘I wish you were settled’, and she was getting quite elderly, and so we talked about it. On the one hand, I was very happy to marry my husband, but on the other hand, we probably said, ‘Are we doing this for your mother?’ She was very happy when we got married!
“We had a very small wedding on the day and a bigger party about a month later. I wore a purple dress on the day. It was a lovely, great day.”
The 68-year-old writer also lets her husband get involved in the writing process, as he proofreads her drafts and provides valuable feedback.
“He does the proofreading, which is great, because it is always worthwhile having one extra pair of eyes on things, and he comes at it from a different angle,” Sheila explained.
“Surprisingly, since he has been proofreading, he has always been very nice about my books. It’s not (causing a rift), I did think maybe it wouldn’t be his thing, because like a lot of men, he does like action books, but he does seem to enjoy them, which is nice. He always says nice things anyway!
“Sometimes I’ll be at my desk, and he’s at the other end of the room, and he’s proofreading, and he might suddenly swear, and I’ll say ‘What’s wrong? Have you found some awful mistake?’ and he’ll go ‘No, but she’s going to do something really stupid, I know it!’”
The couple, who mainly live in Dublin, also enjoy spending a few months every year in Spain, where they own a second house. Sheila says she loves soaking up the sun while she goes to tennis tournaments, saying that her life is quite different over there than it is in Ireland.
“In April, May and June, I tend to go over to Spain, where I have a house, and we travel from the house around Spain. I also tend to go to Madrid as there’s a tennis tournament. I’ve kind of gotten into following a couple of different tournaments, so I do that for about three months.
“I feel like my life is kind of different over there. I’m outdoors a lot more, and I travel around a lot more because Spain is a much bigger country, there are more places to go. I do like the warmth; I’m possibly a more sunny type of person. I like the warmth in my bones.”
Read the full interview with Sheila in this month’s issue of RSVP Magazine, on shelves nationwide now.
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