“WE WERE RAVING AND THEN DANIEL KISSED ME” — MAJELLA O’DONNELL ON THE NIGHT SHE FELL FOR IRELAND’S COUNTRY LEGEND
It’s one of Irish showbusiness’s most heartwarming love stories — the night Majella O’Donnell met Daniel O’Donnell, a meeting that would blossom into a partnership admired across generations. Speaking with her signature humor and honesty, Majella has opened up about that unforgettable first encounter — and the surprising, slightly mischievous kiss that started it all.
“We were raving, and then Daniel kissed me!” Majella laughed as she recalled the moment that changed her life forever. “It wasn’t anything planned — it just happened. One minute we were laughing, the next he leaned in and kissed me. I remember thinking, Well, that was unexpected!”
The pair met in Tenerife, where Majella was helping out in her parents’ bar — a lively hub for locals and holidaymakers alike. At the time, Daniel was already one of Ireland’s most adored performers, though he hadn’t yet found the person who would truly complete him. “He was lovely, polite, and a bit shy at first,” Majella said. “He wasn’t trying to impress anyone. He was just himself — and that’s what drew me to him.”
The spark between them was instant. What began as a casual meeting turned into long conversations that lasted late into the night — about music, family, and faith. “We just clicked,” Majella admitted. “I think we both realized quite quickly that there was something special there. Daniel made me laugh, and I made him relax — it was just easy.”
But that first kiss, as Majella tells it, was a moment she’ll never forget. “It wasn’t a grand romantic movie kiss,” she said with a grin. “It was natural, sweet, and it just felt right. After that, things moved very naturally. We both knew we’d found something real.”
Their relationship blossomed despite the distance between them — Majella living in Tenerife and Daniel touring across Ireland and abroad. But phone calls, letters, and visits kept them close. “He’d fly out to see me when he could,” she said. “Sometimes we’d only have a few days together, but we made every minute count.”
Daniel, for his part, has often spoken of how Majella changed his life. “She brought a different kind of joy into my world,” he once said. “With Majella, I didn’t feel like ‘Daniel O’Donnell the singer’ — I was just Daniel. She gave me a sense of home.”
By November 4, 2002, the couple were married in a beautiful ceremony in Tenerife, surrounded by family and close friends. The wedding marked a new chapter in both of their lives — one filled with shared laughter, faith, and resilience through every challenge that followed.
Over the years, their marriage has been tested by public attention, personal trials, and Majella’s courageous battle with breast cancer in 2013. But through it all, their love has only grown stronger. “We’ve been through a lot together,” Majella said. “Illness, loss, and all the everyday things that happen in a marriage — but Daniel’s always been my rock. He’s kind, patient, and he never takes life too seriously. That’s why it works.”
She admits that Daniel’s calm personality perfectly balances her own more outspoken nature. “We’re very different,” she laughed. “Daniel’s very steady — I’m the one who flies off the handle now and again! But that’s good, because he calms me down. We meet in the middle.”
Fans adore the couple not just for their love story, but for their openness. Whether it’s on TV — as in their charming B&B Road Trip series — or in interviews, they never hide the real side of marriage: the laughter, the disagreements, the affection that endures through it all.
Majella says that after more than two decades together, the secret to their lasting love is simple: “Respect, patience, and laughter. You can’t stay angry forever — you have to let things go. And you have to laugh together, even when things aren’t perfect.”
Today, as Daniel and Majella continue to share their lives with fans while cherishing quiet time at home in Donegal, that famous first kiss has become part of Irish showbiz legend — a reminder that love often arrives when you least expect it.
Looking back, Majella smiles at how it all began. “If you told me that night in Tenerife that I’d end up married to Daniel O’Donnell, I’d have laughed,” she said. “But life has a funny way of giving you what you didn’t even know you needed. And all it took was one kiss.”