My wife gave Gerry Ryan a telling off for drinking too much...
Gaybo on concern for 2fm star before his death
GAY Byrne has revealed his wife “told off” the late RTE star Gerry Ryan for drinking too much.
The broadcaster said Kathleen Watkins had words with the former 2fm presenter on a few occasions before his death in 2010.
Gerry passed away eight years ago in his city centre apartment after suffering heart failure.
When asked if he ever tried to help him towards the end of his life, Gay said: “Not particularly.
“Kathleen gave him advice as she realised he was drinking far too much and putting it away late in the night, into the early morning.
“So you told him off once or twice, didn’t you?”
Kathleen responded: “Very nicely, once or twice, yes.”
She recalled a time when she was contacted by Ryan’s radio show after she gave the broadcaster a lift home the evening before.
Kathleen said: “I remember one time we brought him home from somewhere and the next morning I got a call from the Gerry Ryan Show.
“‘Hello Kathleen. Gerry is wondering if he left his wallet
YESTERDAY
in your car?’ I said, ‘I have no idea. Would you hold on? I’ll go out and look’.
“So I went out, hoping it would be there. And there it was, his wallet on the back seat of the car.”
Meanwhile, Gay said he wants to return to the airwaves but his family won’t allow him to.
The 84-year-old, who has been battling prostate cancer for the past two years, revealed RTE approached him to get back to presenting his Lyric FM Sunday show in the New Year.
However, the former Late Late Show host said Kathleen and the couple’s daughters Suzy and Crona urged him not to go back to work.
Speaking to the Sunday Independent, Gay said: “RTE want me back on the air in January for my little Sunday afternoon show and I won’t be let go.
“They say I’m not up to it at the moment, and I suspect they may be partly right, but nonetheless, I greatly regret I can’t do it.
“It was my little outlet, that’s all. It was unimportant.
“In fairness, it affects Kathleen as well, because it was her Sunday too.”
She realised he was putting it away late in the night & into morning GAY BYRNE