Monaghan actor Charlene McKenna has opened up about motherhood and grief in a recent interview.
The 40-year-old from Glaslough, is probably best known for her roles in Peaky Blinders, Bloodlands and Ripper Street.
In an interview with the Irish Times during the week, the former St Louis' student explained how she turned 40, became a mother and lost her beloved father, all in three weeks.
She revealed how her daughter's arrival was "hard won" after IVF treatment and the cruelty of life as just weeks after her daughter was born, her father Brendan died suddenly.
She told the Times "I am a first time mammy and it's the first time I lost anyone close to me".
McKenna returns to the stage in the Gaiety Theatre in the Troubles-related play "The Ferryman", which is about the discovery of a former IRA man's body in County Armagh.
