Ireland

Frances Black describes family's 'huge shame' over teen pregnancy in RTÉ show

Frances Black was featured in Sunday's Keys to My Life show on RTÉ One.
Frances Black was featured in Sunday's Keys to My Life show on RTÉ One. Frances Black was featured in Sunday's Keys to My Life show on RTÉ One.

Frances Black has described how she was forced to use the back door of her childhood family home due to the "shame" of becoming pregnant as a teenager.

The Dublin singer, who was elected to Seanad Éireann in 2016, described her trauma in last night's episode of RTÉ show Keys to My Life.

The 62-year-old told presenter Brendan Courtney that her teen pregnancy "brought huge shame on the family" and left her father "devastated".

She explained: "He couldn’t bear to even look at his beautiful daughter and think ‘she is pregnant’. He really, really struggled with it. And I carried a lot of shame around it."

The 'Wall of Tears' singer said she went on to secure a job at a creche while pregnant with son Eoghan, but was not allowed to use the front door of her family home.

"I’d have to go around the back so the neighbours wouldn’t see me," she explained.

Speaking of her fears that she would have her baby removed from her, she told the show: "I remember there was another young girl who got pregnant around the same time and she just disappeared. She was in one of the Magdalene Laundries and when she came back there was no baby. I remember thinking, 'I am so blessed'."

Ms Black said the pregnancy led to a short marriage that ended within five years, following the birth of second child Aoife.

She described how loneliness led to a reliance on alcohol before becoming teetotal in 1988.