‘Blessing in Disguise’: Majella O’Donnell Opens Up About Not Having a Child with Daniel O’Donnell
Majella O’Donnell has revealed that while she once hoped to have a baby with her husband, country music icon Daniel O’Donnell, she now feels grateful that it never happened — calling it a “blessing in disguise.”
The star of Daniel and Majella’s B&B Road Trip, who had two children, Siobhan and Michael, from her first marriage, married Daniel in 2002 when she was 42. Speaking on RTÉ’s Brendan O’Connor’s Time Out, Majella shared:
“I suppose I wanted it more so for Daniel. I’d had my kids, I wasn’t too bothered. I’d have loved to have given him a child. We didn’t do anything to prevent it, but nothing ever happened. It was kind of like it wasn’t meant to be.”
Now, she says with a laugh and sincerity: “I am so grateful, I really am — that I haven’t got a baby or a 15-year-old.”
Majella spoke warmly about Daniel’s bond with their grandchildren, describing how he gets up in the night, changes nappies, and feeds them.“He would have been a great father,” she told him.
But Daniel disagreed: “No, I wouldn’t, because I wouldn’t have been here. I would’ve been away on tour.”
Majella added: “The grandkids are like his — he’s experiencing them from birth, sees them as much as he wants to, then goes off on tour and Skypes every day. It’s perfect.”
She reflected that being divorced with children actually gave Daniel a ready-made family “without going through the pain of a wife complaining at home with crying babies!” she joked.
Majella also recalled her first impressions of Daniel when they met:
“I knew the name — Daniel O’Donnell. Country music, knitted jumpers, drinks tea, no craic. That’s probably what a lot of people perceive — but they’re very wrong.” Instead, she found him funny, engaging, and full of charm — and their first kiss soon sealed a connection built not just on shared love, but deep mutual understanding.
Their story, like their marriage, is a testament to love growing in unexpected places — and to finding family in forms you never planned.