miscarriages<\/a> and three unsuccessful IVF cycles. An egg donor attempt also failed.<\/p>\n‘You know, it became an unhappy home for Max. And someone said to me, I think it\u2019s better for the child to grow up in two happy homes than one unhappy home. That line will stay with me forever.<\/p>\n
![\"Michelle](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/VIPIrelandImage127223.jpg\")
VIP Style Awards 2014 at The Marker Hotel, Dublin, Ireland – 25.04.14. Pictures: Cathal Burke \/ VIPIRELAND.COM *** Michelle Doherty<\/p>\n
‘Thankfully there was no infidelity or anything like that. So the respect was still there and we just decided we can\u2019t go on the way we are, so let\u2019s prioritise Max and make sure that he\u2019s a happy child.’<\/p>\n
Michelle said they remain great pals after the split.<\/p>\n
They decided they would split custody 50-50 \u2013 a difficult decision, but she wanted Max to have the kind of ‘special’ relationship she had with her own father.<\/p>\n
‘Mark is a really great dad and they have a beautiful relationship. We live five minutes from each other,’ she says of co-parenting. ‘We\u2019re always bumping into each other on the promenade down the beach or… \u2018I forgot something…\u2019 \u2018Yeah, pop up, you can get it\u2019.’<\/p>\n
Every Sunday they do lunch together and Mark was ‘incredibly supportive’ when her father, Sean, passed away.<\/p>\n
![\"Michelle](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/VIPIrelandImage153428.jpg\")
Michelle Doherty<\/p>\n
‘We still have the highest regard for each other, which is lovely. And the most important thing is that Max is happy.’<\/p>\n
Michelle admits she would rather ‘be on her own’ than be with the wrong person.<\/p>\n
‘I would rather be on my own than be with the wrong person.’<\/p>\n
She did weigh up her options about how it was affect their son.<\/p>\n
‘Am I going to ruin their life, first of all? It is the most terrifying decision. How am I going to survive? I live so far away from my family. But I just kept thinking, this is not a relationship, this is not how I want my life to be.<\/p>\n
‘I would rather be on my own than be with the wrong person. I want to be an example to Max. I don\u2019t want Max to think it\u2019s OK for his mum and dad to speak to each other like that. I don\u2019t want him growing up feeling that \u2013 we were never married \u2013 this is how parents should behave to each other.<\/p>\n
‘And we\u2019ve spoken about that as well since. Like, “Max, it wasn\u2019t OK for me to be talking to your dad like that, or vice versa. You\u2019re not supposed to treat people like that. We want you to know that you are loved so much, that you\u2019re our priority and you will always be number one for us no matter what happens. Me and your dad will always stand by you, and be there for you 100pc.”<\/p>\n
‘He\u2019s an only child so he doesn\u2019t have siblings to lean on. So that\u2019s another side of it that you\u2019re like, how could you do this to him?’<\/p>\n
But Michelle said she feels like a ‘new person’ and has got her spark back since her split.<\/p>\n
‘Oh, I\u2019m like a new person. I\u2019ve got my spark back. I\u2019m not saying that Mark took that from me. It\u2019s more, you know, you sort of… adapt to life with somebody… it doesn\u2019t often feel like that\u2019s being authentic to yourself.<\/p>\n
‘And then when you get your life back and you just have to, you think about Max and prioritise yourself, it\u2019s kind of, oh, I forgot that I used to be confident like this, or look at the bright side of life.
‘When you separate from someone, you have to dig deep. You\u2019ve to put the work in, it doesn\u2019t just happen. It\u2019s going to be uncomfortable, but you have to sit with it.’<\/p>\n
Being in a relationship that has gone ‘wrong\u2019 is ‘exhausting’ and Michelle \u00addescribes losing herself in it.<\/p>\n
‘You kind of block yourself out. “I don\u2019t even exist. I don\u2019t deserve to be loved here, I\u2019m just going through the motions, and I\u2019m making sure you guys are OK, but I\u2019m not making sure I\u2019m OK.” For a long, long time I put everybody else first,’ she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Xpose star Michelle Doherty has revealed she has ‘quietly split’ from her husband, Mark. Michelle and Mark,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[18,117,19,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-280174","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115879650686740172","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Pic:](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_9507.jpg\")
<\/p>\n