11/10/2026
Riverdance star Michael Flatley has described “never feeling pain like it” as he bid farewell to his wife Niamh O’Brien.
Flatley had the couple’s son Michael St James at his side as he tearfully paid tribute to their “lady of the dance”.😢
Ms O’Brien, 52, died peacefully at the Beacon Hospital in Dublin last week after an illness.💔
Mourners from across the world turned out to attend her funeral at Church Of St Thérèse, Mount Merrion on Saturday.
They included former Riverdance lead dancer Padraic Moyles and actor Patrick Connolly Bergin.
Ms O’Brien performed the lead role of Saoirse in the Lord of the Dance shows alongside Flatley.
Flatley was tearful as he described the last three weeks as “unbearable” for her as her health worsened, and played her favourite tune on his flute, telling mourners that he looked forward to their next dance together in heaven.
He started his eulogy in tears saying: “How did we get here?” adding that his legs felt hollow, that he felt empty on the inside, and had brought their son to the front of the church with him for strength.
“I felt a lot of pain in my life,” he told mourners, referencing his past as a boxer and during his dance career.
“But this morning I have never felt pain like this in my life.”
He referenced a quote from Irish playwright Samuel Beckett – “Where I am, I don’t know, I’ll never know, in the silence you don’t know, you must go on, I can’t go on, I’ll go on.”
“I can’t believe that I was so lucky that Niamh said yes to me. She wasn’t just my lady, the lady she was, she was my dream girl, she was my everything, she was the lady of the dance, she was the love of my life, she was the mother of our son, she was highly intelligent and she was the most beautiful girl in the world, my dream girl, Niamhy,” he said.
“We danced around the world for 20 years, and how well I remember her, she was always the dancer immediately on my left because she was the greater dancer we ever had because she was the most beautiful girl in the world.”❤️
