There were bags of cocaine, champagne and tequila on stage...we dranks pints of it
Singer Mary in battle with alcohol
MARY Coughlan has confessed to feeling “as low as lino” at the height of her alcohol addiction which saw her hospitalised 32 times.
The Woman’s Heart hitmaker puts her life under the microscope in a new series of RTE’S Keys To My Life with Brendan Courtney.
During an emotional journey, twice-divorced Mary, 64, revisits the abuse she suffered as a child, her alcoholism and the painful marriage splits.
The mother of five said: “I was probably an alcoholic since I was born. It was nonstop through a gig, from the time you got onto the bus.
“In the space of three years I was hospitalised 32 times for alcohol poisoning. Success fuelled and disguised it.
“There was everything, there was bags of cocaine, our drink on stage was champagne and tequila and we’d have a pint of it.
“The kids took photos of me lying under the table. I was so depressed and unwell. I was lower than lino, that is what I used to say to myself.”
Mary reveals the abuse she suffered from the age of six at the hands of her grandfather and her father’s heavy-handed parenting when she acted out as a result.
On a tour of her first marital home in Galway – which she briefly shared with husband Fintan
Coughlan – she recalls a watershed moment with her dad.
Becoming emotional, she added: “It was here that my father came to apologise to me for causing me any pain in my life. He kind of broke down and said he was sorry he ever laid a hand on me.”
Mary sought treatment for her drinking at the Rutland Centre, South Dublin, and has remained sober since her stint in rehab.
She married hubby No 2, Frank Bonadino in 2002, but he had an affair with their 27-year-old Spanish au pair.
Mary said: “I didn’t tell anyone. I was really mortified. I was ashamed.
“I was angry with myself for not seeing it. Under my own nose in my own house – that is what really annoyed me.”
She credits the Woman’s Heart tour and the support of fellow musicians, especially Frances Black, for helping her through the dark times.
The pair are reunited as Frances makes a surprise appearance on the show before Mary gives Brendan a grand tour of the Wicklow home she calls “paradise”.
Mary added: “I have learned that when people open up to each other it is cathartic. Music and the arts is like therapy. It’s what healed me.” ■ Keys To My Life airs on RTE One tonight at 8.30pm.
I was probably an alcoholic since I was born, it was non-stop MARY COUGHLAN ON HER DRINK ADDICTION