Mairead Ronan has told of how she rebuffed questions about Jenny Kelly and Ray D'Arcy's blossoming relationship.
Jenny and Ray worked together in Today FM and were friends for years before it turned into something more.
Jenny admitted the beginnings of their romance was "drama-filled" as they were colleagues at the time, with Jenny being the producer of Ray's Today FM show.
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“It was drama-filled, it was slightly ridiculous, it was not easy — high drama,” she said. “I can’t put us in that [drama] place anymore, because we’re the least dramatic people now. I’ve known Ray for 24 years and I can’t even imagine my world without Ray in it. But looking back to that time, I think some relationships just start like that. In work, there’s that added complication.
She added: "It was a different scenario because it was public. People kept texting into the show, saying, ‘You guys are obviously together.’ I thought we were being subtle about it.”
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Mairead said: “You just couldn’t hold it back. People asked me what was going on with them and I kept saying, ‘No, they’re just flirty on air.’”
Mairead "always had Jenny’s back" as she and Ray's romance blossomed, with Mairead rebuffing speculation until the two wanted to go public themselves with the relationship. Jenny and Ray tied the knot in 2013.
Mairead and Jenny have been friends for years, despite the fact that "on paper" the pair don't quite match up.
“On paper, we were probably not meant to be friends — I was from Finglas, she was from Foxrock,” Mairead said. “I love Ray’s line on it — I had a paper round and Jenny had a pony.”
They met when Mairead joined Today FM, with Jenny saying: "But she came in and it was this energy, this positivity, and we were all, ‘She can’t leave. She’ll just have to stay, she’s so great.
“It was that kind of cliche, the missing jigsaw piece within the show, but for the pair of us, it was that rare thing when you do meet someone — and I think women get this more than men — where you just click and go, ‘Yeah, she’s going to be my mate, whether she likes it or not.’”
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