Andrea Corr tells Ryan Tubridy how ‘prayer and faith’ got her through struggles to have a baby

Andrea Corr has spoken about her difficulties in having a baby and her experience with bullying when she was young in the latest episode of The ­Bookshelf with Ryan Tubridy.

The podcast sees celebrities join the broadcaster to discuss their lives through the prism of three books.

Each week, Tubridy’s guest is asked for their favourite childhood book, the book that made them cry and the book that changed their life.

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In this week’s episode, the Corrs ­singer spoke about her faith and how she prayed to St Therese of Lisieux, also known as the Little Flower, when struggling to have a child of her own.

"My situation was not good. I had five miscarriages, and it didn’t look good that I would be able to hold my own baby," Corr said on the podcast.

"It was almost miraculous how my problems disappeared. I believe in prayer and faith, and trust handing it over. I trust what’s best will happen for me."

Corr is married to Brett Desmond, the son of billionaire financier Dermot Desmond, and they have two children, Brett Jr and Jean.

Corr also spoke about her childhood in Dundalk, Co Louth, which she described as a happy one, though she did experience bullying when she was young.

During the podcast, the singer-songwriter chose CS Lewis’s The Silver Chair from the Narnia series as her favourite childhood book.

Corr said she has strong memories of reading the book, which tells the story of children who are bullied at school and who escape to the magical world of Narnia.

What I was being called was harsh and made me ashamed but it was not true

"I had a happy childhood, I think I got to 12 without ever having that ­worryache, that pain in your gut," Corr said.

"As you get older, you have different problems with people or friends.

"Like everybody I had a bit of a hard time.

"There was a small moment when that ache came, girls made up something to stop me going somewhere and that people were calling me names."

While Corr reflected on her bullying experience, she said her children are "much stronger" than her and would not put up with the treatment that she had to endure growing up.

"What I was being called was harsh and made me ashamed but it was not true... but I believed it so fully that it never actually left me," she said.

"But I am not sitting here crying going, ‘poor me’. I see my kids as much stronger than me, particularly my daughter, who would have none of this crap I took. She doesn’t have my weaknesses. I don’t worry about that ache for her."

Corr also spoke about the death of her parents, Gerry and Jean, and how grief can make it difficult to think of them.

"It can be emotional going back into that world and into that house in my mind," Corr said.

"I suppose it’s the bringing them back to life, probably the sense of that moment being so alive the house being so alive and then to now, these being memories and ghosts almost. That’s what it is."

The Bookshelf is out every Tuesday on audio platforms and YouTube.