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| Author, Amanda Brunker. Picture courtesy of amandabrunker.com |
By Declan O' Toole
Miss Ireland, actress, journalist, columnist, author, talent show judge, wife and mother. These are just a few of the titles held by one of Irelands most glamorous “yummy mummys” Amanda Brunker.
On a busy Tuesday evening in St Stephens Green, Amanda, took a break from her busy lifestyle to enjoy a cup of tea and a chat, to talk about her career and being a mum.
Who else but the fabulous Amanda Brunker could juggle such a high profile career, while also being the ever present mother of her two little boys, Edward and Setanta.
As we sat, Amanda removed her stylish royal purple hat to reveal her famous long blonde curls and a killer smile that would make Julie Roberts green with envy.
“So what would you like to know?” she asked with great enthusiasm.
“How’s about you tell me all about your upcoming book,” I questioned with an awakened smile.
“Well, I had an idea that I was harboring for about 8 months, I really wanted to do a stage play. I was trying to think of an idea that would work for a book to, so I could kill two birds with the one stone. Now I think I have also came up with a screen play as well, with my new book, Hello Buoys!” she claimed confidently.
“I wanted the story to be all and everything! To have great ideas and great values of friendship and trust mixed with betrayal, even though there is an awful lot of drama and sadness in it, if you go to the play you will leave with a great feeling of ‘ahh, I love my best friend!, ” Amanda exclaimed, holding her hand’s in the air for dramatic effect.
"I rebelled against the Americanised ending"
“That’s what it is all about. In my first books, Champagne Babes, Champagne Kisses and Champagne Secrets, I was rebelling against the happy ending, the ‘Americanised ending’ I was always told you have to have a happy ending. But I was being too much of a realist, the thing is mass market! People want a feckin happy ending,” she said with a smile. “So I have given in, ya gotta give the people what they want!”
“Hello Buoys is set on a cruise ship, it is about two best friends, it has the essence of Beaches and in many ways it’s a kind of a Shirley Valentine, with two leading ladies. Myself, I know that with my own best friend, I would do anything for her, we have had our fights and when we are not talking our worlds fall apart, it is easier to function when I’m not talking to my husband rather then my best friend! I think an awful lot of women can identify with that.” she claimed.
I asked Amanda, “do you identified personally with any of the characters as herself?”
“oh, no the characters are never me! Some people thought that my last trilogy was a character based on me, but it most definitely wasn’t, obviously there was similarities in some ways, but for a writer the best thing you can do is to write about what you know, so because of that you put a lot of yourself into it, but they are still not you. Considering my central character Eva Valentine, there is no way that is me, I suppose in a way she must be, but I don’t like her very much!” Amanda said with a giggled.
“That is what I truly love about writing, it is a time for ‘you.’ It’s a time to escape the world briefly and create your own world and that is what good fiction is all about! Escaping! It’s about plotting and planning, anything can happen in a fictitious world. In my office or in a restaurant I create and recreate the scenes of the story, when you’re a mum and a wife, it’s often a great way to just take a break away from it all and just live in your own little world!”
The conversation lead onto her most recent public capacity, being a judge on The All Ireland Talent Show, I asked her how she felt filling the shoes of the former judge Shane Lynch.
“Well obviously I was never going to fill Shane Lynch’s shoes, he is a great man, a great character and I miss him on the show cause he was gorgeous to look at and a really fun guy. He was there for the first two days auditions and we had so much fun, getting into all kinds of trouble.” she said as she laughed aloud. “We found ourselves sneaking off to the pub, ya know, just being naughty and fun! I really enjoyed my time on the show, hopefully Dublin will have better luck next year."
I could not possibly let Amanda Brunker slip away without asking her about Nuala! For those of you who may have missed it, Amanda recently stared in an episode of Anonymous, in the guise of her fictional alter ego “Nuala Ní Buachailli,” the Gaelgóir poet from Co. Galway.
“Awh Nuala” Amanda said beamingly. “For now she is sitting on ice, but we have big plans for her. I had studied in the Gaeity School of Acting, I’d gotten small parts in some shows and adverts but it wasn’t really paying the bills so it kinda fell by the waist side. But with Nuala, I feel like this could be a natural vent for the acting career I had wanted. I can have a lot of fun with her! We have considered a Mrs Merton style of talk show for Nuala. So we will wait and see where that goes!”
On asking “who is bolder Amanda or Anonymous host, Jason Byrne?” Amanda replied with “oh god, I don’t know there was two of us in it, but I think I surprised him!”
I asked Amanda, “where does your funny side come from?”
The mother of two claimed “well I’m very much ‘the glass is half full’ I love life, I enjoy having the craic and the fun and I’m all about spreading the love! Everyone likes to laugh, and that’s what I tried to bring to the ‘Champagne books’ they are essentially just a giggle rather then horny books!” she laughed. “Its not meant to be just porn, people like to laugh to.”
"It's not meant to be just porn, people like to laugh to."
As asked Amanda how she could balance all the various strands of her career while also being a full time mother and wife.
“I get a lot of help from the boys doting grandmothers who fight over them, and love to spend time with them. I am with my boys every chance I get, I don’t spend as much time as I would like with my husband as we can both be so busy but we make every minute together count.”
“Who is ‘the boss’ in your house,” I questioned.
“Although my husband would probably say I am, he definitely is! That’s why I went for him he is a strong person that’s what I love about him,” She said with a bashful smile.
I asked her if she thought the role of the Irish mother/career woman had changed greatly in the last few years.
“No,” she replied quite frankly. “We have just gotten busier! We are still the ones who holds the home together, does the shopping, the cleaning and organises everyone, we are just so much busier then ever before!”
Amanda could clearly see a look in my face that read “I‘m impressed.”
“The way I see it,” she explained, “the only limitations out there are the ones you put on yourself. You just have to want do it enough, I never finished school, never went to college. I won Miss Ireland and never looked back. My mother always taught me that whether your cleaning a toilet or hosting a T.V show, do it to the best of your ability! I stuck with that and I always knew I would achieve the dreams I wanted to!”
With those words of worldly wisdom, myself and Amanda set to part ways. But before we did, in true ‘Amanda Brunker style,’ we had to have an interview picture of the both of us!
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| Amanda and I, St Stephen Green Cafe. 29th March 2011. |
