After almost 20 years of marriage, Michael Flatley still spoke about his wife Niamh O’Brien with the enthusiasm of a man newly in love.
asserted
Flatley → speak → love
‘I’m very blessed, I’m in love with my wife, who’s in love with me.
asserted
who → ’m → me
We have a wonderful son.
asserted
We → have → son
I don’t remember us ever having a bad word.
asserted
us → remember → word
’
‘Marry the right person,’ was his advice when asked earlier this year about the secret of their enduring relationship.
asserted
advice → marry → relationship
And he considered himself extraordinarily lucky to have done just that.
asserted
himself → consider → that
Indeed, as their 20th wedding anniversary neared, the famously flamboyant Lord Of The Dance was already planning another grand romantic gesture.
asserted
Lord → near → gesture
On October 14, he and Niamh would have marked two decades since they exchanged vows in a packed Co Cork church, and Michael had decided to surprise his wife by asking her to do it all over again.
asserted
Michael → mark → it
‘I have something very special planned for the 20th to renew our vows,’ he revealed, before immediately realising he had given away more than intended.
‘I shouldn’t have just said that, my wife is going to know all about this!
asserted
wife → plan → this
But I won’t say what it is and I won’t tell her.
asserted
I → say → her
I’m the luckiest guy in the world.
asserted
I → ’m → world
Tragically, the anniversary they had been looking forward to will never come.
asserted
they → look → ?
Just days before it, Niamh, the woman Michael had known for more than three decades, loved for 20 years and described as his ‘missing piece’, died at the age of just 52.
asserted
Michael → know → 52
‘My heart is broken. My gorgeous bride of 20 years has gone to the Lord in Heaven,’ the devastated 68-year-old said as he announced her death on Monday evening.
asserted
he → break → evening
For all the extravagance that surrounded Flatley — the spectacular stage shows, fabulous homes, enormous wealth and a public persona almost as theatrical offstage as it was on it – his most important relationship was simple and understated.
asserted
relationship → surround → it
‘They were just mad about each other,’ a close friend of the couple told the Irish Daily Mail this week.
asserted
friend → tell → Mail
‘They had a great relationship…
asserted
They → have → relationship
Niamh was always there for him, always behind him,’ the friend said.
asserted
friend → say → him
‘She shunned the limelight, wasn’t into the publicity but was happy for him to be his flamboyant self.
asserted
him → shun → publicity
And those who knew Michael noticed something else after Niamh finally became more than his friend.
asserted
Niamh → know → friend
‘He quietened down,’ the friend said.
asserted
friend → quieten → ?
‘He is a family man and only had eyes for one woman.’
asserted
He → have → woman
Yet theirs was not a love affair that began with a whirlwind courtship.
asserted
that → begin → courtship
Long before Niamh became Michael Flatley’s wife, she had been his fellow dancer, friend and confidante, their lives intertwined for more than a decade before friendship eventually turned to love.
asserted
friendship → become → love
Born in Kilbride, Co Meath, to Monica and Thomas O’Brien, Niamh began Irish dancing at the age of three and became an exceptional competitive dancer, finishing fourth in the World Irish Dancing Championships at 17.
asserted
Niamh → bear → 17
Her talent eventually brought her into the extraordinary story that began in Dublin in 1994, when Riverdance was performed at the Eurovision Song Contest and changed both the art form and the lives of its performers forever.
asserted
Riverdance → bring → performers
Riverdance became an international phenomenon and Michael Flatley, its charismatic, bare-chested, swaggering male lead, became its first superstar.
asserted
Flatley → become → superstar
‘My heart is broken. My gorgeous bride of 20 years has gone to the Lord in Heaven,’ the devastated 68-year-old said as he announced her death on Monday evening
Niamh was part of that world from its earliest days and when Flatley left Riverdance amid a very public dispute the following year, she remembered the devastation among the dancers.
asserted
she → break → dancers
‘We were in rehearsal and everybody was distraught,’ she recalled in an interview.
asserted
she → recall → interview
‘We didn’t know what was going to happen.
asserted
what → know → ?
He had been the driving force for all of us to keep up.
asserted
all → drive → us
He’d kept us motivated so it was a really horrible time for everybody.’
asserted
it → keep → everybody
Niamh subsequently joined Michael in his new venture, Lord Of The Dance, alongside her sisters Aoibheann and Derval, becoming one of its leading performers as Saoirse, before also appearing in Feet Of Flames and Celtic Tiger.
asserted
Niamh → join → Flames
Over those years a close friendship developed between her and Michael, although romance was still a long way off.
asserted
romance → develop → her
He had married Polish-born Beata Dziaba in 1986, with the couple divorcing in 1997, and later embarked on a high-profile relationship with the late Irish model Lisa Murphy.
asserted
couple → marry → model
He proposed to Lisa during a romantic trip to Monaco in 2002, but after an on-off relationship lasting several years they finally separated in 2006.
asserted
they → propose → 2006
Through those years Niamh remained one of Michael’s friends and confidantes and, he would later admit, precisely because he thought so highly of her, she had seemed almost off-limits romantically.
asserted
she → remain → her
‘My wife was the one that I had on a pedestal, the one on the show that I would never ask out,’ he recalled in an interview earlier this year.
asserted
he → have → interview
‘Because she was such a lady, so classy, you know?’
asserted
you → know → ?
There had, however, been signs that friendship might one day become something more.
uncertain
friendship → become → ?
…and 51 more, not listed.
The Aporia
