Jenny and I would have had a child together

Mrs Brown's Boys star Brendan O'Carroll on his sadness at missing baby opportunity

BRENDAN O’CARROLL made his name playing a mum but one of his biggest regrets
is that he and wife Jennifer Gibney have not had kids.

Brendan is proud Irish mammy Agnes Brown in BBC sitcom Mrs Brown’s Boys, where
Jennifer plays daughter Cathy.

The couple have known each other for nearly 20 years and married in 2005.

In the special episode going out tomorrow, Brendan has written a storyline
about Cathy being broody.

Naturally Agnes, who always interferes in the lives of her children, has
something to say about it. And Brendan admits both he and Jenny can really
relate to Cathy’s maternal urge.

He says: “Jenny doesn’t have children. Over the years there have been times
when I would get a bit broody and she did too, but she was also step-mum to
my children.

“I would have loved to have seen what a baby from me and Jen would be like and
we did say, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to have a baby’, because we love kids.

“Then when we got married, we were like, ‘Come on, we should’.

“But we were still on the road a lot and we couldn’t inflict that on a baby.
Then what saved our bacon was our first grandson Jamie being born eight
years ago. Now Jenny and I have our baby fix through our grandchildren — our
youngest grandson Isaac was only born this summer.

Brendan, who opens up during a flying visit to the UK to promote his new book
Mrs Brown’s A-Y of Everything, also can’t help but gush about how incredibly
proud he is of Jennifer and her appearance on Strictly Come Dancing — no
matter how short-lived.

The actress, 50, was voted out in the third week of the show.

Brendan says: “I was so proud of her getting out there on that dancefloor. I
had no idea that she could move like that. You would never have got me out
there shaking my bits.

Contrary to reports, Brendan says he plans to write more Mrs Brown’s Boys and
there are Christmas specials lined up until 2020.

He says: “There is no way that I would work for 20 years to make something
successful and as soon as it’s successful then stop. That would be crazy. I
am definitely writing more Mrs Brown’s Boys. The great thing is that Agnes
is an old lady and she can just grow older and older.”

Before he found fame, Brendan was bankrupt as a result of a failed film
project that left him with £2.2million of debt.

Years on he is on course to make a reported £50million but Brendan insists he
is not impressed by fame or success.

He says: “It is nice to give something back after earning millions.

“Mrs Brown’s Boys has been an amazing success but the only thing that money
can do for you is to buy two things — time and the chance to invest.

“It does not make you happy or make up for things you have lost.

“My first son Brendan (from his first marriage to childhood sweetheart Doreen)

had spina bifida and he died two days after being born.

“People might think, ‘Oh thank God he was so young’. But something like that

is not a relief and doesn’t go away.

“As soon as you learn that you are expecting a baby you are planning a future

and you are putting away money for school and for college and then all of a

sudden a nightmare happens and your life changes.

“And that is why I never take any of this for granted.”