Downey gives flight to joy, hope with ‘Butterflies’
Ireland’s Roma Downey has gone from actor to producer and now author with the very personal, inspirational book “Box of Butterflies.” “I don’t know if I could have written this book 20 years ago. It’s a book I wish someone had given me when I was a young actor starting out,” Downey said last month.
“Butterflies” (Howard Books, $24.99) is a lavishly illustrated collection of quotes, poems and notes. It’s dedicated to her youngest — and only daughter — Reilly, a Boston University senior who acted in the local play “Ripe Frenzy” recently. Mom was there, a last stop before her book tour.
“Butterflies,” she said, “deals with the idea that there is a choice in your life every day to focus on what you have. Like gratitude and kindness.
“And remember, comparison is the thief of joy. There’s always somebody with something you think you wish you had. I’ve reached a stage in my life (where) I’m grateful and I’m blessed.”
“Butterflies” is influenced by the defining traumatic event in her life: Her mother’s sudden death at 47 of a heart attack; Downey was 10. “When she died it was as if the lights were removed. I grew up in Derry and my father took me to the cemetery about a week later. I brought little pansies, which were my mom’s favorite flowers because she thought they looked like butterflies.
“Then a real butterfly came and my father said, ‘That could be your mother watching over you.’ Since then inexplicably I’ve seen butterflies. Not always around the garden, a piece of jewelry or on a waitress’ wrist, and I think of them as little signs of assurance.
“I use the butterfly in my narrative because how long in my own life do I feel like a caterpillar and give up just before triumph is in sight? It’s the struggle that strengthens the wings. I felt the stories of my life might be an encouragement, might help someone else.”
Why after the success of “Touched by an Angel” did Downey, 57, never return to series television? “I haven’t come across a script that has the same appeal. I was raising my family and then made the move into producing. “I’ve really been wearing my producer’s hat in the last decade with ‘A.D.’ the Bible series and ‘BenHur.’”