Ronan Keating’s affair with backing dancer Francine Cornell : Ronan Keating was married to his first wife Yvonne Connolly for 12 years. They had three children and were eager to start a new chapter in 2010.
The couple accepted an offer on the PS3.5million property they had been dreaming of – a large mansion outside Dublin.
Yvonne (46), was preparing for the big move when a devastating discovery brought her world to its knees.
According to The Mirror, she had felt a shift in her marriage for some time and suspected that something was wrong.
The chilling confirmation came when Ronan’s phone bill was retrieved by her and she saw calls to a number that she didn’t recognize.
Yvonne played detective and called the number to learn the owner’s name. It was Francine Cornell, a Boyzone backing dancer, and she had been involved in a secret seven-month affair.
Francine stated that Francine knew of something and took his phone records and called me.
“She got my name from my voicemail — that’s how I found out. Ronan initially tried to deny the truth. Ronan claimed that he was a tour dancer and that we were just good friends.
But Yvonne was not buying it, and she called Francine immediately a few days after. Francine said that the truth was that Ronan was in love and she was in love.
He broke off with Francine to go back with Yvonne a few days later and told her in an emotional phone call that they would never talk to each other again.
Francine was pleasantly surprised when Yvonne invited her to her London hotel a month later.
“I needed answers. Brendan O’Connor’s Cutting Edge explained that she needed only the truth and that it was important to ensure stories co-operated.
“It was difficult to find someone you can trust. This was the solution. I planned to meet the girl and have a brief conversation of 20 minutes.
“And to be fair to her, she came up and met me. The 20-minute conversation quickly turned into a few bottles of wine.
“After a few minutes I realized she needed it as much and as badly as I did. I know it sounds dramatic but she was just as victim as I was. It was a good thing for both of us.
“When I think back, it boils down to this: it was basically two women in love with the exact same boy who realized after a five-hour conversation that that boy wasn’t who we thought.
Things got more bizarre when Francine’s mother called the police. Yvonne mistakenly thought they were strippers.
The former model said, “There was a knock at the door and when I opened the peephole, I saw policemen dressed up.”
“I told them that I thought they were strippers. They replied, “No, we’re the Metropolitan Police, and we’ve come here to investigate the whereabouts of this girl.”
She said, “To this day it’s like it happened to someone else, I just think that it’s the most funnest story.”
They did indeed move into their new home and worked hard for the restoration of their relationship.
Ronan used the sleeves notes from his solo album Duet 2010, to apologize to his wife, whom he had married at 21 years old.
He exclaimed, “You are the most inspiring and inspirational woman I’ve ever met.”
