Marty Whelan fell in love with his wife Maria at the young age of 17.
They were both teenagers at the time and met at a disco on the northside of Dublin.
He joked that it was love at first sight for him, but she had love at first sight “after 10 years of hanging around her”.
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Marty explained that after tying the knot in 1985 he still loves to be around her, sharing that they are “very lucky”.
“Yes I am romantic – we both are,’ he told Evoke. “I’ll put it to you this way, after all these years, on the way home from work, I still look forward to seeing her. We both have our things going on, we are just great friends. I just love being with her and feeling the love. We are very lucky.
“It is so lovely to have someone who just has you, who knows when you’re not right on a day and will ask you what’s up.”
One of his newer roles in life is grandfather, with his granddaughter Lily arriving into the world earlier this year.
Lily, born to his daughter Jessica, was named after Marty’s mum and her middle name is Nora, which after Jessica’s husband Conor’s late mother.
“She’s just wonderful,’ he shared. “Myself and Maria get to see her a lot and mind her and her presence for me really brings home just how important it is to look after myself. I want to be around as long as I can for her,’ he muses, clearly relishing every moment he spends with the tot.
“It’s different to being a parent, because as a parent, when your children are born, you’re kind of thrown in at the deep end and there’s this steep learning curve. With Lily, I’m out the other end and I have some wisdom and there’s like a rekindling of parental love. She’s so precious.”
The RTE star added: “We’re just very happy that she’s in the world.”
He is also very hands-on, stating: “I’ve spent my life changing nappies. Sure one day the favour might have to be returned, if I live long enough.”
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