Lorraine Keane had to get creative when Covid cancelled her Fashion Relief charity events. Andrea Smith talks to her about reinvention, family and dealing with her biggest challenges.

One of the things the pandemic brought to Lorraine Keane was the realisation that she no longer wants to sell her beautiful Monkstown home. The former Xposé presenter has a passion for renovating houses, so she and husband Peter put their house on the market a couple of years ago, planning to buy a smaller house nearby and do it up. “I’m delighted we didn't go ahead as having the extra space was brilliant with everyone working and studying from home,” she says. “We have decided to stay where we are and will be doing some renovations this autumn, such as adding en suites to the bedrooms.”

Unlike many of us at that age, Lorraine had her head screwed on and bought her first house when she was 20. She attributes now having her “dream home” to buying small “doer-uppers” in good locations, overhauling them and moving on.

“I bought wrecks in nice areas, because I love renovating, interior architecture and design, and I enjoyed doing them up, which in turn increased their value,” she says. “Property has always been my best financial investment, although I never intentionally invested in it. The houses I bought were always my homes.”

One of the things the pandemic brought to Lorraine Keane was the realisation that she no longer wants to sell her beautiful Monkstown home. The former Xposé presenter has a passion for renovating houses, so she and husband Peter put their house on the market a couple of years ago, planning to buy a smaller house nearby and do it up. “I’m delighted we didn't go ahead as having the extra space was brilliant with everyone working and studying from home,” she says. “We have decided to stay where we are and will be doing some renovations this autumn, such as adding en suites to the bedrooms.”

Unlike many of us at that age, Lorraine had her head screwed on and bought her first house when she was 20. She attributes now having her “dream home” to buying small “doer-uppers” in good locations, overhauling them and moving on.

“I bought wrecks in nice areas, because I love renovating, interior architecture and design, and I enjoyed doing them up, which in turn increased their value,” she says. “Property has always been my best financial investment, although I never intentionally invested in it. The houses I bought were always my homes.”

Lorraine has been self-employed for 12 years and has had to learn the art of managing financially when there isn’t a set amount landing in the account on the same day each month. It has taught her the importance of planning ahead and getting into a routine around bills and payments. Regular jobs are a blessing when you’re self-employed, and Lorraine feels very lucky with the brands she works with. She has been an ambassador for Cleanmarine MenoMin - a natural food supplement for women going through perimenopause – for six years and Renault Ireland for eight.

“Thank God I've got my husband – the sensible Peter Devlin - because he keeps tabs on most of the important bills that have to be paid,” she says. “ The first two years were the most difficult for me because I'm not a great saver - I'm a much better spender.” One thing helping the budgetary planning is that while Peter was self-employed for decades, he began working full-time two years ago for VideoElephant, which produces video content for 100 news channels across the globe.

FASHION RELIEF

His skills were a great help to Lorraine when Covid impacted fundraising events for Fashion Relief with Oxfam Ireland, which she set up in 2018 to raise funds for the charity’s work with the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. It’s a great initiative that has raised over €400,000 to date by offering people the opportunity to bag new, or nearly-new, designer bargains from stylish women, brands and boutiques.

While the items were previously sold through nationwide Fashion Relief events and a pop-up at the Frascati Centre in Blackrock, these opportunities ground to a halt when the pandemic struck. The enterprising Lorraine came up with the bright idea of pivoting to an online shopping platform, and with the help of Irish tech firm Axonista, Fashion Relief TV (fashionrelief.ie) was born.

Each 30-minute programme allows viewers to click and buy from any device enabling them to shop sustainably while helping people in need. All while nabbing a designer bargain, which is a win-win scenario.

“My house was like a warehouse during lockdown and there was only Peter, myself and our daughters, Emelia and Romy, sorting it all out,” says Lorraine. “Emelia, my neighbour and I modelled the clothes, and while I used to give out about having to do everything in TV3, such as presenting, directing and editing, that skillset has come in very handy lately.”

“It’s a lot of hard work but I get so much out of it,” she smiles, adding that the shop at Frascati is still open for business.

“I have been travelling to the developing world for 12 years now, so I get to meet the families and see first-hand where the money goes.“ Lorraine is also keen to highlight Oxfam Ireland's Second Hand September campaign, which is asking people to say yes to second hand clothes for 30 days. (oxfamireland.org).

Lorraine also launched her Magic Hair Brush during the pandemic, and the detangling brush did very well after Emelia and Romy helped their mum launch it - with great aplomb - from their kitchen (magichairbrush.ie).

Now 48, Lorraine grew up in Rathfarnham as the second of Eamonn and Nuala Keane's seven children, and she has five sisters and one brother. Her dad still performs with the showband, ­ The Indians. While her parents’ marriage broke up when she was 18, everyone came through the difficult time and Lorraine is very close to her family.

She met Peter when interviewing him about his band, ­The Devlins, and they were married in San Sebastian in 2003. She describes him as a “great guy” who is everything that she could want in a life partner. “I feel very lucky to have met somebody like Peter as he’s solid, genuine and very kind. We still have a laugh – well he laughs at me, most of the time.”

When it comes to challenges, the bubbly Dubliner was devastated when her lovely mother-in-law, Marie, died suddenly, just before the pandemic hit. Losing five close friends in the past five years was very hard too, as was the death of her baby nephew Jett, who was born early and passed away after five days.

LEAVING XPOSÉ

On the professional front, the most difficult challenge Lorraine faced was when she decided to leave Xposé. On the face of it, it was all red carpets, glamour and hanging out with celebrities, but the reality was that a lot of hard work and travel went into making the sparkly show, which aired on TV3, now known as Virgin Media Television.

“Working on Xposé was fantastic and I absolutely loved it, but it's not a job for a woman with small kids,” she explains. “It was often six days per week and I didn't have flexibility. My girls were only five and two when I decided to leave, and I made the decision as I knew I would never get that time back with them.”

Leaving a high-profile television job you love is hard enough, but the difficulty was compounded when the rumour mill went into overdrive.

“There was a lot of press saying that I had fallen out with the station and it was all fights and rows, and that was very hard because it wasn't true,” Lorraine says. “That hurt, you know, making me out to be a diva when I'm definitely not, and it was a real shocker because I had never had any bad press before that.”

Lorraine says she very much appreciates the opportunities the station gave her, and was completely taken aback by the reaction and speculation her departure generated. “There were photographers hiding in the bushes outside my house, which was mad because I’m not Kate Moss,” she says, incredulously. “I actually knew them because we had worked together, and they felt terrible about being sent to try to get a pic of me leaving the house with a sad face.”

HORMONE HEALTH

This professional difficulty was also intertwined with one of Lorraine’s most personal challenges - trying to expand her family. When she left TV3, she thought she and Peter would go on to have more children but, sadly, once she hit perimenopause at 38, she struggled to conceive. She had in vitro fertilisation (IVF) several times, including twice while working at the station, and now wishes that she understood as much about hormone health back then as she does now. This is why she loves doing her podcast, Let's Talk Hormone Health.

“The IVF journey that myself and Peter went through was tough, and talking about hormone health is hugely important to me because I'd hate for any other woman to go through it unnecessarily,” she says. “If an endocrinologist like Dr Mary Ryan had been in my life at that time to balance my hormones, I would have had a much better chance of conceiving. I probably wouldn't have needed IVF, because it was quite obvious that myself and Peter could conceive and there were no fertility issues.”

While not having more children was disappointing, Lorraine is profoundly grateful to have her two beautiful daughters - Emelia, now 17 and Romy, 14. And of course being around her sisters’ young children is a great help.

“Peter and I are always reminding ourselves of how lucky we are to have two healthy children, particularly as I've got friends who haven't been able to conceive,” she says. “Emelia and Romy are teenagers now and they’re great girls and fantastic company. I’m also a big animal-lover and we adore our two little dogs, Chip and Slipper.”

Emelia will sit her Leaving Cert next June and has a huge interest in acting, while Romy will do her Junior Cert at the same time and loves singing. They may well choose to follow in their parents’ and grandfather’s footsteps and Lorraine won't try to dissuade them.

“The girls know the creative industry is full of uncertainty and ups and downs, so they will probably take academic courses and work on both things, which is very clever,” she says. “I would never discourage them from going into the entertainment or media industries as Peter and I have been so lucky and feel very privileged to have made a career from our hobbies.”

Lorraine is speaking at the Menopause Success Summit, sponsored by Cleanmarine MenoMin on September 25 (menopausesuccesssummit.com).

Follow us on Instagram