Ronan Keating's former lover opens up about affair and how he said they would be married
Monday 15 October 2012
Ronan Keating’s former lover Francine Cornell has opened up about her affair with the married Boyzone frontman, confessing the Irish singer told her they would wed.
Ronan Keating and wife Yvonne
In an interview with a Sunday newspaper, the dancer, 28, revealed just what went on during their seven-month fling.
The blonde said that when she asked Ronan if he thought she would see his name on her mobile phone in 20 years time, he replied: ‘In 20 years, we will be married.’
However the brief romance came to an abrupt end when Ronan’s wife of 14 years, Yvonne, found texts on her husband’s phone in 2010.
At the time, a source said that Ronan felt ‘extremely guilty’ about the revelation and ‘wanted to do anything he could to avoid a divorce.’
In the revealing interview Francine claimed that she received a call from Ronan’s wife after she had found out, and they later met at a hotel when Yvonne was in London.
Francis Cornell
The pair apparently shared two bottles of wine before Yvonne announced: 'We're just two girls in love with the same boy.'
The affair began in 2009 when Francine was hired as a backing dancer for Boyzone’s UK tour. A source at the time said: "It was the talk of the Boyzone tour for quite a while. Ronan and the girl were certainly very close."
A couple of days after the tour had ended Francine says she received a call from Ronan, the first indication of his feelings, in which he said he needed to see her.
'Ronan said, "I needed to speak to you, I miss you. I want to see you. I'm in London next week, will you come and see me?" I was relieved I'd spoken to him. I went to see him and that was that.'
The blonde goes on to say that she 'never asked Ronan to leave Yvonne' and denied wrecking their marriage,saying 'there were already drifting apart.'
Francine also told the newspaper how she would constantly tell the singer to go home to his wife and children, and that sometimes they would end their fling.
Ronan, Yvonne and their three children
'Then he'd ring up crying, saying, "I can't do this any more, I need you, I need you. I can't not have you in my life." I'd say, "No you have to go back and make it work."'
Ronan and Yvonne tried to give their marriage another go after the affair became public but in March this year they announced – via Twitter – that they had secretly split in late 2011.
Speaking on Piers Morgan's Life Stories earlier this month, Ronan opened up about the end of his marriage, admitting he was sick of 'trying to be the perfect husband.'
'I had spent so long trying to be the perfect husband. I woke up and decided I didn't want it,' he said.
'I was wrong. I made a choice and, because of that choice, there were devastating effects in people's lives.'
'I tripped up. The pain that I caused people has been devastating.'
The former husband and wife still remain friends though and share custody of their three children Jack, 13; Marie 'Missy', 12; and Ali, seven.
Ronan admitted it was heart-breaking confessing to his children about his mistake.
He said: 'I was honest. They're your kids, you have to be and with something like this, they were going to find out anyway. As a parent you're never wrong in your children's eyes. So you feel like a failure.'
Ronan also admitted to Piers that it was impossible to repair their marriage because 'the trust was gone'.
He explained: 'She took me back. That was a huge step. But I don't think it can ever work after something like that.
'She still is an incredible woman. Of course I love her, yes. We both love each other. And we're going to be in each others lives for the rest of our lives because of our three incredible kids.'
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