Mrs. Brown's Boys' Fiona O'Carroll splits from husband Martin Delany

‘We wanted different things’: Mrs. Brown’s Boys’ Fiona O’Carroll splits from husband and co-star Martin Delany after 15-years of marriage

The actress claimed they had ‘grown apart’ and insisted the split was a mutual decision
The couple married in 2006, going on to have four children – sons Felix, Isaac, Eli and Dexter
Fiona admitted she persevered with the marriage after watching her own parents divorce in 1999
Martin, who plays Mrs. Brown’s youngest son Trevor in the BBC show, now lives in Portugal
Fiona, the real life daughter of show creator Brendan O’Carroll, plays Maria Brown in the hit show

Mrs. Brown’s Boys’ Fiona O’Carroll has announced her separation from husband and co-star Martin Delany after 15-years of marriage.

Speaking to RTE, the actress, 41 – best known for her role as Maria Brown on the popular but maligned sitcom – claimed they had ‘grown apart’ and insisted the split was a mutual decision.

She said: ‘Myself and Martin met very young. I was 16, and I suppose he’s all I’ve ever known and we just kind of grew apart.

‘We wanted different things. I still have a lot of love for him and I only want the best for him and I think he feels the same way about me.’

The split is the latest blow to the BBC sitcom which has suffered criticism from critics, disputes over pay from stars and fan anger after some actors were named in the Paradise Papers for alleged tax avoidance.

In one particularly scathing review of Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie, a critic for Empire wrote: ‘Almost avant garde in its commitment to unfunny, it’s shambolically performed by the majority of its cast, and shot and edited in a fashion so slapdash it seems like a movie made almost entirely by competition winners.’

Many of the actors are from Mrs Brown’s Boys creator Brendan O’Carrol own family.

His sister Eilish plays next door neighbour Winnie, his wife Jennifer plays daughter Cathy, and his real-life grandson, Jamie O’Carroll, plays Mrs Brown’s grandson, Bono.

Fiona is Mrs Brown’s on screen daughter-in-law Maria, while Martin Delany plays Mrs Brown’s son Trevor.

All over: Mrs. Brown’s Boys’ Fiona O’Carroll has announced her separation from husband and co-star Martin Delany after 15-years of marriage

Mrs Brown’s Boys Christmas and New Year Special 2016 with Fiona O’carroll as Maria Brown, Paddy Houlihan as Dermot Brown, Danny O’carroll as Buster Brady, Jennifer Gibney as Cathy Brown, Martin Delany as Trevor Brown, Brendan O’carroll as Agnes Brown, Rory Cowan as Rory Brown, Gary Hollywood as Dino Doyle, Dermot O’neill as Grandad, Pat Shields as Mark Brown, Jamie O’carroll as Bono Brown, Amanda Woods as Betty Brown

How the scheme is believed to have helped Mrs Brown’s Boys actors to avoid paying tax

Discussing her separation today, Fiona said: ‘There were no major fights, and nobody else was involved but it was a case of not being on the same page any longer.’

Fiona – the real life daughter of Mrs. Brown’s Boys creator Brendan O’Carroll – admitted she persevered with the marriage after watching her own parents divorce in 1999.

‘I think I hung on for as long as I did because when my own parents broke up, that was very public, and there was a lot of hurt involved there,’ she added.

The couple married in 2006, going on to have four children – sons Felix, Isaac, Eli and Dexter.

Martin, who plays Mrs. Brown’s youngest son Trevor in the BBC show, now lives in Portugal but is understood to co-parent the children and stay at the family home whenever he is in his native Ireland.

Mrs. Brown’s Boys, which has been both loved and maligned since its inception in 2011, is set to air two more episodes over the festive period.

In 2017, it was revealed that Brendan O’Carroll and his family had purchased seven homes in the sunny state of Florida.

The revelation came after three stars of the BBC sitcom were identified as allegedly using a complicated web of offshore companies and trusts to avoid paying tax on their earnings, according to the Paradise Papers media reports.

Newly separated couple Martin and Fiona were named, as was co-star Patrick Houilhan.

They are said to have diverted over £2m of their earnings into companies based in Mauritius, before getting the cash sent back, purportedly as loans.

Three homes, worth £280,000 and £240,000, were found to be registered to Mr O’Carroll and his wife, fellow Mrs Brown’s Boys actress Jennifer, 53.

A fourth, worth £280,000, was registered to Fiona, 37, and Martin, 44.

The final two are in the names of Brendan’s sons Eric and Danny.

It was also claimed that Mr and Mrs Delany allowed some of their money to be transferred into a Mauritian trust before it was eventually ‘loaned’ back to them, according to the BBC’s Panorama.

It was thought that the ‘loans’ were artificially created with the purpose of avoiding tax, and that none of them were ever repaid, meaning they were in effect a form of income and so should have been taxed.

Life imitating art: The couple play Maria and Trevor Brown in Mrs. Brown’s Boys

Mrs Brown’s Boys creator Brendan O’Carroll and his family own six adjacent properties on a street in Davenport in the state of Florida (pictured)

However, Mr O’Carroll insisted no one involved with the show had done anything illegal.

At the time, he said: ‘Everybody that featured in that show did what they did for completely different reasons.

‘Paddy and Fiona wanted to regularise their income over a period of time so they could pay tax over a longer period of time, What’s really important is that nothing they did was illegal.

‘In the case of Fiona, Paddy, and Marty, not one penny of their BBC money went into that fund. Not one penny of their TV appearances went into that fund, or overseas sales went into that fund. Not one fee went into that fund.’

He added: ‘Panorama said that they are paid offshore. That’s b*****ks. Their fees are paid to a UK agency called Pro Fid who represent them.

‘They invoice us and we pay their fees to Pro Fid who organise whatever they organise with them to give them their monthly salary.

‘In my daughter Fiona’s case I know she paid €200,000 (£176,000) in tax last year. At the time Fiona was ambushed by the BBC guy in Glasgow, she had just done a year-long audit and had a clearance certificate. All her loans were declared.’

Mr Houlihan, who plays Agnes Brown’s son Dermot on the BBC hit, claims he joined the Mauritius scheme after advice from British accountant Roy Lyness – who also advised Jimmy Carr.

But he said he ‘never knew what the f*** was going on’ with his money.

Mr Houlihan said he had to Google ‘tax avoidance’ after a Panorama reporter called him in October over his investment. There is no suggestion that those involved acted illegally.

It’s back? Mrs Brown’s Boys’ return to screens for two more Christmas specials has sparked horror from many BBC viewers

According to the leaked documents, dubbed the ‘Paradise Papers’, which expose how the rich and powerful shield their wealth offshore, accountant Roy Lyness was involved in setting up meetings which led to the actors participating in the scheme.

Mr Lyness was also behind the controversial K2 scheme, which in 2012 was discovered to be allowing thousands of the super-rich to pay as little as 1 per cent income tax, sheltering as much as £168m in Jersey.

Furious license fee payers later called for the BBC to axe Mrs Brown’s Boys amid the claims that some of its stars were part of a tax avoidance scheme.

The show also came under scrutiny last year after it was slammed for its backstage politics when two of its actors reportedly quit amid a pay gap dispute.

The actors in question – Damien McKiernan and Gary Hollywood, who play couple Dino and Rory – are said to have discovered they earn less than the rest of the cast – which is largely made up of star Brendan O’Carroll’s family.

And an insider exclusively told MailOnline on Monday that the way the show is run behind-the-scenes makes for an unhappy work environment.

‘The show is very Upstairs/Downstairs, with a very clear divide between Brendan’s family and the few actual actors such as Gary and Damien,’ the insider said.

‘The family are all directors of the Mrs Brown’s production company and are always looked after.

‘The BBC let Brendan do whatever he wants!’

O’Carroll’s wife, his sister Eilish, his son Danny and Fiona, have all appeared on the series.

Although he has not disclosed his salary from the show, O’Carroll’s net worth was last calculated in 2013 when it was an astounding £9.98 million / €11 million.

In 2017, however, the stars of the show revealed how they were in debt in the early runs. But in 2019 it was reported that profits at a Brendan O’Carroll entertainment company almost doubled to £584,311 / €643,876 the year before.

The Irish Times reported then that accounts filed by BOC-PIX Ltd show O’Carroll and his wife, Jennifer Gibney, had garnered almost €2 million in dividends from the company over 2017-2018.

O’Carroll also makes much of his income from touring.

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