Emotional tribute to legendary RTE host Finucane 1 year on
Husband John opens up in TV show
Once this virus lifts we’ll throw a party for Marian JOHN CLARKE YESTERDAY
TALENT
LEGENDARY broadcaster Marian Finucane is remembered by husband John Clarke in an RTE film tomorrow – just over a year after her death.
The emotional new documentary, called Marian, provides an intimate look at the star’s life and relationship with her partner.
The RTE radio icon died on January 2, 2020, at the age of 69 and she and John were together for 40 years, but only married in 2015.
In black and white footage from an interview shot five months after Marian’s funeral, John recounts the story of their lives together.
The documentary is also filled with clips of Marian’s career, backed by anecdotes from John that paint a picture of the public and private personas of the
iconic Irishwoman who he said had a “bond with listeners”.
One minute she’s a fresh-faced young reporter working on stories about prostitution or drugs, the next she’s grilling Anglo boss Sean Fitzpatrick in the days after the bank guarantee.
But in a standout and heartbreaking moment of the documentary, John recounts the loss of Marian’s daughter Sinead, eight, to leukaemia in 1990, which he says “shattered her”.
He added: “The only real sadness I knew with Marian was the death of Sinead.
“Drop of a name, anything – cry her eyes out. Tried very, very hard to keep it out of the public arena. I think that shattered her.” Recalling the moment they were told Sinead had the disease, he added: “For once, neither of us had a question. “You just sat and muttered, ‘ What the hell is this?’ “Marian never recovered from Sinead’s death. Never. And it was always there, always. Elsewhere, recalling the day Marian died, John said they had a chat about not renewing her RTE contract and she had had a procedure on her heart. They had gone to a trip to India for a wedding and when they returned from “one of the adventures of a lifetime”, he said: “The next day I had to go into town for something, I left her sleeping. I was going to give her a cup of tea and then I said, ‘No, I won’t’. I arrived back some hours later and she was still sleeping.
“I went and looked at her and she was dead. I just couldn’t believe it.
An emotional John told how a month after Marian’s death he had hoped to throw a party to celebrate her life, but was prevented by coronavirus.
He added: “That didn’t happen, with the bloody virus.
“But once it’s lifted we will throw a party, because we had a wonderful life, pitfalls, all those things.
“Disasters many and big, but by and large, a wonderful life.”
Marian airs at 9.35pm tomorrow at 9.35pm.