Mrs Brown's Boys actor Fiona O'Carroll announces split from husband and co-star Martin Delany

Mrs Brown’s Boys star Fiona O’Carroll has announced she has split from husband and co-star Martin Delany.

The actor is the daughter of Brendan O’Carroll, who created the sitcom and plays the lead character.

She plays Maria Brown in the series, which returns for new episodes each Christmas.

Speaking about her split from Delany in RTE Guide’s Christmas preview, Fionasaid: “Myself and Martin met very young. I was 16 , and I suppose he’s all I’ve ever known and we just kind of grew apart.”

She said that the pair, who have four children together, “wanted different things”.

Fiona added: “There were no major fights, and nobody else was involved but it was a case of not being on the same page any longer.”

“I think I hung on for as long as I did because when my own parents broke up, that was very public, and there was a lot of hurt involved there.”

She said that Delany, who played Mrs Brown’s youngest son, Trevor, in the series, lives in Portugal. However, they co-parent their four sons.

“I still have a lot of love for him and I only want the best for him and I think he feels the same way about me.”

Brendan married Fiona’s mother Doreen in 1977 and split in 1999. He has been married to Jennifer Gibney, who plays Cathy Brown in the show, since 2006.

Fiona married Delany in 2006.

Mrs Brown’s Boys returns on Christmas Day at 10.20m on BBC One.