Lord of the Dance star discusses singing rebel songs with the Prince of Monaco, money, media backlash and a life-threatening diagnosis
The dancing star, whose ambitions to contest the Presidential election were revealed during an ongoing court case surrounding his multimillion Castlehyde estate, has revealed that he still visits the home, located just outside Fermoy, but is currently in the market for a property in Dublin.
In August, Chicago-native Flatley was ordered by the High Court to provide security for costs, ahead of upcoming legal proceedings against a number of parties over restoration work on his Cork mansion after a fire in June 2016.
While the ongoing legal battle didn’t come up in the interview, Flatley did reveal that he is still between Ireland and his principal homeplace in Monaco, where he says the current Prince is fond of a rebel song.
“I love Monaco,” he said. “I live between Monaco and Ireland. Our main estate is in Cork, but we are now looking for a place in Dublin.
Michael Flatley outside Castlehyde.
Lord of the Dance star Michael Flatley spoke to Irish documentary maker Colm Flynn
News in 90 Seconds – January 1st 2026
“Prince Albert is very Irish in his heart, and very pro-Irish, and we can’t finish a night without signing ‘(The Fields of) Athenry’.”
Flatley became a global megastar following the sold-out ‘Riverdance’ show, which premiered at the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest in Millstreet.
“I hadn’t heard of it, I had no idea (how big it was), but there was a few quid in it and I was going to be able to dance,” said Flatley, who spoke in-depth about his upbringing in Chicago, and the embarrassment he felt having been fired from the show the night before it was due its second run in London over contract issues.
“My poster was all over the city, and I was in my London apartment when I got the call that I was out of the show,” said Flatley. “They couldn’t come to agreements on contracts, creative control, and money.” The dance star, following a ‘devastating’ call to his father, was too embarrassed to leave the house or to face anyone.
“I was so angry, I remember kicking the table and throwing a chair across the room. And of course, you begin blaming yourself.”
“I don’t mind telling you, I went down to France, and I went on a bit of a bender for about 10 days. I just had to get away from Ireland, the Irish and English press and the tabloids. I was being cut to ribbons.
Michael Flatley with dancers at the 3Arena at an Irish launch of Lord of the Dance in 2024
“I couldn’t face into my local restaurants or pubs, I just couldn’t face anybody, it was a devastating time. They were saying I was an ‘ego monster’ in the press. Anyone who knows me or dealt with me knows – at least in my opinion – that’s the last thing I am.
“They confused the guy dancing on stage with the real person, and that continued.”
From there, Flatley started his own theatre production, ‘Lord of the Dance’, following his father’s advice, which has since grossed over $1 billion. At his peak, Flatley was earning around £1.6 million a week and was asked whether he was able to keep his steady faith in the face of such riches.
“I drank it up, I ate it up, I enjoyed every second,” said Flatley. “I enjoyed every glass of wine, every kiss, every race in the car, every seat on the private jet, every hotel suite. I turned around and said, ‘Yes.’ I never gave in.”
“In 1994, I was absolutely broke, but I had created something in my mind that the world had never seen, and it proved to be right. By 1997, I did the Oscars. By the end of the year, I outsold all the biggest rock bands in the world, in the biggest arenas around the world.
That’s my biggest fear, that I’ll be lying on my deathbed saying, ‘I wish I’d have just tried that
“If I told you then, in 1994, that some guy from Chicago who does the jig and gets laughed at by his school chums, you’d still be laughing, but I did it.”
However, in 2003, the dance star was diagnosed with a melanoma on his face, causing doctors to take several inches of skin from the affected area. Two decades later, the Chicago native was facing an even more aggressive form of cancer, for which he received an operation to remove.
Flatley has never disclosed what type of cancer he suffered, but said the diagnosis and subsequent treatment were “a shock”.
“I’d rather not say (what type), because it doesn’t matter what type of cancer,” he told Colm Flynn, in an interview broadcast on both the BBC World Service and BBC Radio 4.
“Cancer is a brutal, brutal disease. They did the tests, and the doctor said, ‘We can start on chemo and hope for the best, or we can just go in and operate. But if we do that, at the stage you’re at right now and the speed it’s moving, we have to do it immediately.’”
If you decide to take me, Lord, I will have no regrets.
“So I had literally 10 seconds to say, ‘Yes, let’s go in and do it.’”
However, Flatley told Flynn it was his faith that kept him strong through one of the most difficult periods in his life.
“The first question was, ‘How did I get here? How did this happen?’ And I don’t know if you’ve ever been through anything like this, but when you’re lying on that white trolley, in a white-walled corridor with a white ceiling, and it’s always, for some reason, freezing cold in those bloody places.
“I just felt so all alone, and I was quickly reminded that I came into this world all alone, and that I’ll leave this world alone, but not, because God was with me when I got here, God has been with me every day since, and God will make the decision now.
“So if you decide to take me, Lord, I will have no regrets.
“I don’t think I’ve told anybody this, but I said to the two nurses there the saying that we used to have as kids, ‘Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep; and if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord, my soul to take.’ And they held my hands.
“What was in my head was my wife and my son…my immediate family, my siblings…what was in my head was, ‘Have I made them proud?’, ‘Have I done enough of the things that I said I’d do, that I’d promised me, the little boy inside in me, the little boy that’s still in there, have I done enough?’
Michael Flatley and his wife Niamh. Photo: Getty
“That’s my biggest fear, that I’ll be lying on my deathbed saying, ‘I wish I’d have just tried that, I wish I’d have just tried it.’
“Well, that will never happen to me.”
However, Flatley said he ‘didn’t have the time’ to reflect on whether that feeling extended to the time taken away from family through his work.
“I’m an artist, so I’m very emotional, so I began crying and thinking what if this is the end, and I don’t come out, and I was seeing their faces and hugging them from my heart, so that they would feel it.”
“Never, he makes all the decisions. When God rings the bell, I will gladly answer.”