Clever way Ronan Keating’s ex-wife uncovered affair and why he won’t apologise

After 12 years of marriage and three children, Ronan Keating and his first wife Yvonne Connolly were looking forward to starting a new chapter in 2010.

That February they’d had an offer accepted on the £3.5million property of their dreams – a sprawling mansion just outside Dublin.

But as Yvonne, 46, was packing the final boxes for their big move, a grim discovery saw her world come crashing down.

For some time she’d sensed a shift in the marriage and had suspected something was wrong, according to reports.

And the chilling confirmation came when she got hold of Ronan’s phone bills and saw calls to a number she didn’t recognise.

Playing detective, Yvonne called the number and learned the owner’s name from the answering machine – it was pretty Boyzone backing dancer Francine Cornell, then 26, and she’d been embroiled in a secret, seven-month affair with her husband.

“She knew something was going on and she got hold of his phone records and called my number,” Francine previously told The Sun.

“From my voicemail she got my name — that’s how she found out. Ronan tried to deny it all at first. He said I was a dancer from the tour and we were just good friends.”

But Yvonne wasn’t buying it and a few days later she called Francine directly. The truth, according to Francine, was that it was more than physical – she was in love with Ronan and he said he was in love with her.

But just days later he broke things off with Francine to get back with Yvonne and told her in a emotional phone call that they could never speak to each other again.

So Francine was surprised when a month later, Yvonne asked her to come to her hotel in London.

“I just needed answers. I just needed the truth, and I needed to make sure stories collaborated,” Yvonne explained on Brendan O’Connor’s Cutting Edge.

“It was very hard to figure out who you can trust. So this was the answer to it. I was going to meet this girl, a quick 20-minute conversation, and we’d be done and dusted.

“And in fairness to her, she came and met me. But the 20-minute conversation turned into a couple of bottles of wine.

“After a few hours I realised she needed it as much as I did and I know it sounds very dramatic, but she was as much as a victim as I was. I think we both got something from it.

“When I look back, this is what it all boils down to: it was basically two girls in love with the same boy who over a five-hour conversation realised that that boy was not who we thought he was.”

However, things got even weirder when the police turned up at the hotel after receiving a call from Francine’s frantic mother – although Yvonne mistook them for strippers.

The former model continued: “There was a knock on the door and I looked out through the peephole and I saw people dressed as policemen”

“I said to them, ‘Tell me you’re strippers’, to which I was told, ‘No we’re the Metropolitan Police and we’ve come to investigate the whereabout of this girl.'”

She added: “To this day, it’s like that happened to somebody else, I just think it’s the funniest story.”

The Keatings did move into their new home as planned and for the next year, fought hard to repair their fractured relationship.

And Ronan chose the sleeve notes of his 2010 solo album Duet to apologise to his wife, who he married in 1998 aged just 21.

“You are the most incredible, inspirational woman I have ever met,” he gushed.

“For the mistakes I have made in my life, I am sorry. Guess you have to go there to come back. It was a dark place and you were the light to bring me back. I love you.”

Sadly, the union couldn’t be saved and in April 2012, the couple confirmed their separation.

Yvonne moved on with cinematographer John Conroy and that September, Ronan went public with new love, TV producer Storm Uechtritz, who he met on The X Factor Australia.

They tied the knot five years ago today in a stunning Scottish ceremony and have since welcomed son Cooper, three, and baby daughter Coco.

When asked about the affair in 2016, the Irish singer appeared to apologise, with the Daily Telegraph quoting him as saying: “Nobody should have an affair. If you’re man enough to have the balls to go home and say, ‘Sorry, this isn’t working anymore,’ that’s the ideal situation, isn’t it?

“But we’re weak. We don’t do that. So yes, I hurt people and I am sorry for that hurt, but the outcome is I found Storm and I’m very grateful. But I’m saying sorry.”

However, as soon as the interview was published he hit out on facebook, insisting he wasn’t sorry and that he has no regrets about the divorce because ‘it’s what I wanted’.

“There is a lot more to it than an affair and obviously it was broken well before then,” he raged.

“Over the years I have kept my mouth shut and taken all the blame for the sake of my kids & my ex wife. But enough now. After 6yrs I draw the line.”

He added: “There is a lot more to my situation than people will ever know and that’s the way it should be. But there are always two people in a relationship and if it’s not working there’s more than one good reason for it.

“I will not stand for complete misrepresentation of my truth and my heart anymore. I’ve done that for way too many years and too long in the tooth for it. Please respect that everyone has moved on and better off.

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