Terry Keane (9 September 1939 – 31 May 2008), born in Guildford, England, was an Irish social columnist and fashion journalist.
Life
Keane was born Ann Teresa O'Donnell in
Guildford,
Surrey,
United Kingdom in 1939, to Irish parents, who evacuated her to Ireland during the
The Blitz.
Keane studied medicine at Trinity College, Dublin.
She dropped out without taking a degree and later married a young barrister,
Ronan Keane. The couple separated in the 1990s, and Ronan Keane went on to become Chief Justice.
Career
Keane spent the majority of her career working for the Irish newspaper, the
Sunday Independent, where she was the principal contributor of the Sunday Independent's long-running gossip column, The Keane Edge;
she stepped down in 1997 due to ill health.
Charles Haughey
In the Keane Edge column there were often hints of a relationship with a prominent political figure, named in the column as Sweetie, and her relationship was apparently widely known in certain circles, though never openly confirmed. Keane left the paper on bad terms after selling the story of her 27-year affair with former
Taoiseach Charles Haughey to the
United Kingdom newspaper
The Sunday Times,
[ Journalist Terry Keane dies at 68 RTÉ News] a rival to the affiliated London
Independent newspapers, though she admitted her affair on
The Late Late Show in 1999. She later stated that she regretted making the relationship public.
Death
Keane's death on 31 May 2008 after a long illness was announced by her son-in-law, media gardener
Diarmuid Gavin.
She was survived by her children Jane, Madeleine and Justine; her son Tim died in 2004. One of her granddaughters,
Holly Carpenter, was
Miss Ireland in 2011.
External links
