Latest news with #TheRiverCafé
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bono: 'I survived on tinned beans after my mother died'
Bono has revealed he survived on tinned beans and instant mash after his mother died when he was 14. The U2 frontman discussed his limited diet during a new interview with Ruth Rogers, owner of celebrated London restaurant The River Café, for her Apple podcast Ruthie's Table 4. Bono's mother Iris Hewson died aged 48 after an aneurysm and the star admitted mealtimes were an afterthought for him during his teenage years. "After my mother died, I would usually return home with a tin of meat, a tin of beans and a packet of Cadbury's Smash (instant mashed potato)," he told Ruth. "Thinking back to being a teenager, food was just fuel." Rather than spend money on healthy food, Bono preferred to splurge on "things far more important" like new music, as he remembered saving up to buy Alice Cooper's Hello Hooray record. Elsewhere in the interview, the 65-year-old rocker revealed his brother Norman had worked at an airport near their family home in Dublin, and would often bring back surplus food from the airline. "This was highly exotic fare," he recalled with a smile. "'Gammon steak and pineapple, an Italian dish called lasagne that we'd never heard of or one where rice was no longer a milk pudding but a savoury experience with peas." Bono went on to tell Ruth that he didn't have many memories of his mother, and admitted the family rarely mentioned her once she had passed away. "After my mother died, we just didn't speak her name. So it's hard when you do that to recall these things," he added. "We certainly had kitchen table dramas, three men arguing a lot because the woman of the house was gone."
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Husband of Dame Deborah James finds love again three years after her death
The husband of Dame Deborah James appears to have found love again, three years after the much-loved cancer campaigner's death. Sebastien Bowen, 45, was spotted hand-in-hand with a new partner during a sunny afternoon stroll along the Thames in west London. The pair were seen walking arm-in-arm towards Barnes after enjoying lunch at The River Café in Hammersmith, the celebrity haunt where Jamie Oliver once trained. Wearing a red dress and sunglasses, the woman — seemingly in her 30s — looked relaxed and cheerful as she laughed with Mr Bowen. 'They looked like they were very much in love,' said one passer-by. 'It was really heartening to see him looking happy again. For anyone who admired Deborah's spirit, it felt like a beautiful moment.' Dame Deborah, known to millions as 'Bowelbabe', died in June 2022 at the age of 40 following a five-year battle with stage four bowel cancer. A tireless campaigner, she raised more than £11 million for cancer research and helped destigmatise open conversation about illness through her BBC podcast 'You, Me and the Big C.' Before her death, Dame Deborah gave her husband her blessing to move on, joking that he should avoid 'bimbos' and find someone who could make him laugh the way she had. Speaking openly in her final months, she said: 'He's a handsome man… I've told him: 'Don't be taken for a ride.' I want him to be happy. I want him to move on.' The couple met in 2005 and married in 2008, raising two children together. Mr Bowen, who works in finance, has kept a low profile since her death but was reported to have quietly returned to dating late last year. A family friend said: 'It's still early days, but Deborah will always be part of Seb's story. She wanted him to live, to laugh, to love again and he's doing just that.' Dame Deborah's mother, Heather said last year that Deborah would be a 'very tough act to follow' but Sebastien had the family's blessing to find happiness again.
