How Ronan Keating's ex-wife Yvonne discovered his affair in simple act

Daily Record

17-05-2025

Ronan Keating's marriage to his ex-wife Yvonne Connolly ended in 2012 after she discovered he was having an affair with Boyzone backing dancer Francine Cornell.
Ronan Keating has been married to his wife, Storm, since 2015, but his first marriage faced significant challenges. He previously married Yvonne Connolly in 1998 and the couple spent 12 years together and had three children. However, their relationship ended after Yvonne discovered he was having an affair.
Back in 2010, Yvonne felt a change in their relationship, suspecting something wasn't quite right within her marriage. As Yvonne was packing up the family's belongings, preparing to move house, she noticed something strange while packing.
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Her fears were confirmed when she found Ronan's phone bills and discovered he had made calls to an unfamiliar number. Yvonne phoned the mystery number and after being sent to the answering machine, she realised that it belonged to Francine Cornell, the Mirror reports.
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Back then Francine, who was 26, was a backing dancer for Boyzone and was reportedly secretly involved with Ronan for seven months.
Francine recalled the incident, telling The Sun: "She knew something was going on and she got hold of his phone records and called my number. 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."
Yvonne was reportedly unconvinced and decided to contact Francine directly. According to Francine, their relationship wasn't just physical, as she had developed genuine feelings for Ronan, and he had allegedly professed his love for her too.
However, just days later, Ronan is said to have ended the affair with Francine in order to reconcile with Yvonne, telling her over the phone that they could never speak again. So it came as a surprise when a month later, Yvonne invited Francine to meet at a hotel in London.
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Yvonne spoke on Brendan O'Connor's Cutting Edge show, saying: "I just needed answers. I just needed the truth, and I needed to make sure stories collaborated."
"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," she continued.
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"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."
The situation took an unexpected turn, as allegedly police arrived at the hotel after Francine's mother made a concerned call - although Yvonne initially mistook them for strippers.
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The ex-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 whereabouts 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 couple eventually moved into their new house and spent the next year attempting to mend their relationship. Ronan is believed to have used the sleeve notes of his 2010 solo album Duet as a way to "apologise" to his wife, who he had married in 1998 when they were both just 21 years old.
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"You are the most incredible, inspirational woman I have ever met," he stated. "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."
Unfortunately, the pair could not save their relationship and confirmed they had split in April 2012. The pair has since moved on, Yvonne is now with cinematographer John Conroy and Ronan embarked on a relationship with TV producer Storm Uechtritz, after they met on the Australian version of The X Factor.
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Ronan and Storm tied the knot in 2015 in Scotland and have since welcomed son Cooper, seven, and daughter Coco, four.
The singer had spoken about his affair with the Daily Telegraph in 2016, and seemed repentant, 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."
He later reportedly expressed on Facebook that he had no regrets about the divorce, stating it was 'what [he] wanted.'
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"There is a lot more to it than an affair and obviously it was broken well before then," he posted. "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."
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"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," he continued.
"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. Not once did I say I was apologising to my ex wife or saying sorry for the affair. I said I was sorry for all the hurt it had caused, to which I truly am."