Yvonne Connolly (born 7 February 1974) is an Irish model and television personality.

Career

Connolly began her career working as a commercial model for brands including

Coca Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

, Superquinn,

Bank of Ireland Bank of Ireland Group plc ( ga, Banc na hÉireann) is a commercial bank operation in Ireland and one of the traditional Big Four Irish banks. Historically the premier banking organisation in Ireland, the Bank occupies a unique position in Iris ...

and the National Lottery. In 2013, Connolly ventured into television where she competed in the Irish version of ''Celebrity MasterChef Ireland'' on

RTÉ One RTÉ One ( ga, RTÉ a hAon) is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís � ...

. She was eliminated in the fifth week of the competition. Following her appearance on the show, Connolly picked up many cookery guest spots on television programmes including

Virgin Media One Virgin Media One, also called Virgin One, is an Irish free-to-air television channel owned by Virgin Media Ireland (part of Liberty Global), operated through its subsidiary Virgin Media Television. The channel was known until 30 August 201 ...

's ''

The Six O'Clock Show ''The Six O'Clock Show'' was a regional television magazine show broadcast in the Greater London area and produced by London Weekend Television between 1982 and 1988. The Friday evening programme was launched on Friday 8 January 1982 and prese ...

'' and

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

's '' This Morning.'' In 2014, Connolly appeared as a mentor on the

factual entertainment series, ''The Family Project.''

Personal life

On 30 April 1998, Connolly married

Boyzone Boyzone were an Irish boy band, created in 1993 by talent manager Louis Walsh. Before even recording any material, Boyzone made an appearance on RTÉ's '' The Late Late Show''. Their most successful line-up was composed of Keith Duffy, Steph ...

singer,

Ronan Keating Ronan Patrick John Keating (born 3 March 1977) is an Irish singer. He debuted in 1993 alongside Keith Duffy, Michael Graham, Shane Lynch, and Stephen Gately, as the co-lead singer (with Gately) of Irish pop group Boyzone. His solo career start ...

. Together, they have three children: a son Jack, born in 1999 and daughters Marie (known as "Missy") and Ali born in 2001 and 2005. In 2010, Connolly and Keating announced their separation; their divorce was finalised in March 2015. Connolly has been in a relationship with cinematographer John Conroy since 2012. In November 2019, Connolly was left with severe facial injuries when one of her horses kicked her in the face. Her injuries included a broken jaw, fractured nose and severely damaged eye socket. Connolly has spoken in-depth about her long road to recovery, but continues to train and ride horses.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Connolly, Yvonne 1974 births Irish female models Living people Virgin Media Television (Ireland) presenters