When Majella O’Donnell first met Daniel O’Donnell, she admits, “I never thought in a million years that we would end up together.” And yet, the couple—now married since November 2002—have become one of Ireland’s most beloved public pairings, not just for their charm and openness, but for their unwavering commitment through life’s greatest trials. “For some reason we work,” Majella says with a smile, giving Daniel’s hand a gentle squeeze. He beams back at her, content and grounded, like a man who knows he’s found his place in the world.
But theirs is not a story of simple happiness untouched by hardship. It is a story marked by illness, personal battles, and quiet acts of courage—a shared journey that has tested and deepened the bond they share. In her candid 2014 memoir, It’s All In The Head, Majella opened up about the highs and lows of her life: her marriage to Daniel, her long-standing struggle with depression, and the emotional weight of her breast cancer diagnosis in July 2013.
Majella recalls the moment the word “cancer” was uttered by her doctor: “I just squashed Daniel’s hand and said, ‘Oh!’” What followed was a surreal blend of disbelief and raw honesty. “I don’t think that I ever really took it on board that I had cancer,” she reflected. “If I did, I might have gone off my head.” She allowed herself one night of tears before pulling herself together. “My make-up is such that I don’t allow myself to feel sorry for myself… I thought: ‘Come on, pull yourself together.’”
Her strength was not bravado—it was survival. Through a double mastectomy, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, Majella met each stage of her treatment with quiet resolve. Looking back, she still wonders how she made it through. “Some days I’d say to myself, ‘Majella, this is a life-threatening illness and you could die.’ So I’d go,” she recalls, mimicking a slap to the face, “‘WAKE UP!’”
Throughout it all, Daniel stood beside her, ready to set aside his touring career without a second thought. But it was Majella who urged him to continue. “Her belief was that if I stopped working, the cancer would be dictating our life,” Daniel explained. “Whereas if I continued touring, we would just be getting on with life.” Still, hearing the word “cancer,” Daniel admitted, “you do think that this could be the end of the line.”
Yet it wasn’t. Instead, it became a new beginning—a chapter not defined by illness but by partnership, resilience, and the decision to keep moving forward, together. For Majella and Daniel O’Donnell, love is not something simply declared; it is something lived, every day, in word and in deed. Through the silence of hospital rooms and the noise of concert halls, they have remained, above all else, each other’s greatest source of strength.