Natural fit
Exclusively revealing her new role as the face of Knight & Day jewellery, actress Aoibhin Garrihy explains why she has the best of both worlds, and how her husband’s ascent of Everest inspired a new charity
Acting is one of the world’s most uncertain professions; nevertheless, its inherent vagaries have taught Aoibhin Garrihy numerous valuable life lessons: how to cope with stress, the importance of self care, and, not least, the importance of diversification — she recently graced our screens on RTE’s
Dancing With The Stars; she runs wellness workshops for women, and she’s now the face of Knight & Day jewellery’s Autumn 2017 collection, which is featured on our pages today.
“My career is so unstable and uncertain,” Aoibhin says. “If you’re not looking after yourself, you can fall into a real rut. Acting can be tough — it’s not great for your mental health. So you need to find coping mechanisms. Waiting for the phone to ring is a horrible thing.”
For Aoibhin, who is married to Clare hotelier John Burke, it was a case of identifying what was getting her down. “Saying, ‘Look, this isn’t making me happy. I need to find other outlets, and put my attention elsewhere. And put life first’. It didn’t make career sense for me to move to Clare [where John is based]. But I knew that when I’d get on that Naas Road, that was probably when I was happiest. And I was in denial about that for a long time.
“A lot of people were saying, ‘Oh god, you’re really throwing in the towel. What are you doing?’”
In fact, Aoibhin says, she was giving herself the chance to explore other avenues. “I think you need to be openminded about certain things.” The Castleknock native also recently dabbled in mountaineering when she accompanied her husband John to Everest Base Camp. He went on to summit Everest, becoming the first Clare man to reach the peak. The gruelling ascent fulfilled a long-held dream for John, and his momentous feat was also completed in aid of the couple’s new charity, Elevate, more of which anon. The climb was completed over two months ago now, but you sense that for Aoibhin, things are only just settling down. It has been an intense period for the couple. Her popular turn on Dancing
With The Stars was glamorous and fun, but also involved gruelling training of up to eight hours a day, seven days a week.
Aoibhin then accompanied John to Everest’s Base Camp, before heading home to keep vigil, while he ascended. At one point, news broke of another hugely experienced climber having died on the mountain.
Aoibhin recalls: “This came through when I hadn’t been speaking to John for a few days. You feel utterly helpless. That was one of the toughest moments. I ended up going into the Poor Clares in Ennis.