"Awful And Wonderful All At The Same Time" • Fiona O'Carroll on Ayahuasca

Fiona O'Carroll has played Maria Brown in Mrs Brown's Boys since the very first episode, opposite her dad Brendan as Mrs Brown himself. The character only exists because a business partner vanished with the family's money when Fiona was eight, and Brendan needed cash in hand. Years later, with her marriage over and her feelings switched off, Fiona flew to Peru for ayahuasca. In this episode of Talking to the Living, Stuart Michael sits down with Fiona O'Carroll to trace the story from a family pub to the Pavilion in Glasgow and the BBC. She explains why her dad avoids rehearsals, why the evening taping usually makes the final cut and how a midnight call from Anjelica Huston turned his first book into a film. She opens up about leaving a relationship that began when she was 16, and the 14 ceremonies she did over the next two years. And she describes the figure at the end of her bed while she was heavily pregnant, the one she believes was the brother she never met. CHAPTERS (00:00:00) Cold open: Mrs Brown's Boys, Peru and five years of counselling in a weekend (00:03:38) Born 18 months after her parents lost their first son (00:09:43) Why Brendan hates rehearsals, and why the evening show usually airs (00:13:52) Margaret Thatcher's personal butler (00:15:07) The pub, the partner and the family holiday that cost everything (00:16:58) Men with guns at the door, and a blind date night that needed an MC (00:18:44) Mrs Brown, invented on the spot for a radio producer (00:19:49) The midnight call from Anjelica Huston he thought was a prank (00:21:06) The Pavilion in Glasgow and the road to the BBC (00:27:10) Her marriage, four children and no regrets (00:28:16) Why she never felt safe after her parents split (00:33:06) "Not being allowed to safely be yourself" (00:33:50) The first relationship that has ever felt easy (00:38:45) "Separation is contagious": the friends who disappeared (00:42:35) Going numb after leaving her marriage (00:45:55) Finding the only certified ayahuasca retreat in Peru (00:47:21) The first ceremony: "awful and wonderful all at the same time" (00:48:51) Five years of counselling in a weekend, and why aftercare matters (00:53:26) Hearing voices call her name as a child (00:55:06) The figure at the end of her bed while pregnant with Eli (01:00:44) What she wants next: peace (01:04:01) The story she's been dying to write (01:11:44) Retraining as a tea master, and Irish versus English breakfast GUEST Fiona O'Carroll, Actress, Mrs Brown's Boys Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fiona0carroll/ X: https://x.com/OCarrollFiona LISTEN YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StuartMichaelPsychic Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033cMvcyuZIDuS6xRqhdPH Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-to-the-living/id1896608417 FOLLOW STUART MICHAEL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stuartmichaelpsychic TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@stuartmichaelpsychic Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stuartmichaelpsychic