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Ronan's Birthday Baby
They briefly met as kids, met again two years ago, started dating last year and married within four months. Now they're expecting a baby on the Boyzone singer's birthday.
At just 21, he's one of Ireland's top celebrities. A handsome, millionaire tax exile, he owns a fleet of cars and travels the world first class. But all Boyzone singer Ronan Keating really wants to do is stay at home with his model wife Yvonne Connolly, 25, who's shortly due to give birth to the couple's first child.
NOW can reveal that the baby's due on 3rd March - Ronan's birthday - and will be called Marie if it's a girl or Jack if it's a boy. And, according to a friend, the couple are resisting the urge to discover the sex of their child.
Cecily Marron, Yvonne's best friend since primary school, said they decided on Marie, after Ronan's mum who died last year from cancer, and Jack "because it's a nice, short name".
"Yvonne's the perfect catch for Ronan," says Cecily, a beautician. "She's got brains to burn and is very intellectual. She can hold a conversation on any topic and has great social skills."
Since confirming her pregnancy last September - just five months after after their secret wedding in the Caribbean - Yvonne and Ronan have virtually given up their jet-setting lifestyle. Refusing to fly, the furthest Yvonne has been since Christmas was to have a few days break in Belfast and Ronan has instructed his record label bosses that, until the birth, work commitments are down to a minimum.
Since the couple started dating a year ago, Yvonne has been a regular fixture on Boyzone's numerous foreign trips and often used to stay on with Ronan for a few days once the work was over. Recently, however, when Ronan's travelled abroad for work, he comes home as soon as it's finished, ahead of the rest of the band, so he doesn't have to stay overnight. One source close to the band revealed that he so loathes to spend any length of time away from his wife that he recently visited his brother in Australia for just two days.
Cecily, 26, says: "Ronan will make a great dad and will dote on his child. Yvonne and Ronan are so lucky. They've got a beautiful home and are so happy together. We go over to their new house in Celbridge quite a lot to have a cup of tea and catch up on the gossip," she says. "They haven't got maids or cooks. Apart from a cleaner who comes once a week, they do it all themselves. Ronan sometimes cooks and they always do the shopping together. He's even got Yvonne playing golf now."
Cecily reveals: "Ronan's not working until the child's born so they can get everything sorted out. They've been running around buying baby clothes and doing all the mummy and daddy things you do. There are no plans for a natural or home birth. They'd never consider anything like that. That's what the American's do. They don't do that in Ireland, they're going to use the local hospital like everyone else."
Cecily continues: "Even though Yvonne moves in totally different circles to me, she hasn't changed at all. I'm so happy for her. She and Ronan are so down to earth and he's such a nice guy, really sound. He's this big pop star but he never pulls rank or anything like that. Ronan's mature for his age."
Growing up in the village of Clane, County Kildare, where Cecily runs her own beauty clinic, she and twin sister Adele were Yvonne's closest friends. "Eenie, as we've always called her, didn't have any other friends," she reveals. "The three of us did everything together. We used to have slumber parties at her house and loved going horse riding. Eenie used to have a horse and I think she and Ronan are building a stable at their house in Celbridge. They've got enough room."
Despite being sent to a Dublin boarding school at the age of 11, Yvonne still lived for the weekends when she would rush back home to be with her friends. On Saturday nights. the trio would troop off to Regine's nightclub in Naas town. "We'd all dance together - no fellow could break through, we didn't let them," recalls Cecily. "Well maybe the odd one did, but not many."
After passing her exams, Yvonne started a physiotherapy course at Cardiff University. "But she was lonely in Wales," says Cecily. "I think she made a few friends, but it was the first time she'd been away. She got homesick and eventually came home without finishing the course. We encouraged her to try modelling. She was so pretty with her long, curly, blonde hair. An agency took her on and things were going well until she cut her hair short, then suddenly she became massive."
She soon became well known and dated a string of hunks, including racing driver Eddie Irvine but, until she hit it off with Ronan, nothing was serious.
The pair met briefly when Yvonne was 13 and Ronan was 10, as his dad used to make deliveries to the village of Clane. But they only met up again at a showbiz party two years ago.
"They were friends for a long time and always ended up chatting at dos," says Cecily. "but gradually they fell in love and one day they realised they were made for each other." On 30th April last year they married and soon Yvonne was pregnant. "They wanted the baby straight away and are thrilled about the pregnancy."
"If you've got one good friend in life you're lucky. I've got Eenie and I know that, whatever happens, she'll always get her nails done here," says Cecily. "Anyway, she knows I'd kill her if she went anywhere else."
Jon Clarke - NOW Magazine - 11th February 1999