Father’s death prompts Vogue Williams to examine ‘next life’

She entered our lives as part of the reality TV show, Fade Street, going on to marry Brian McFadden. Now, twenty something Ms Williams is fronting an RTÉ show on the afterlife, writes Ailin Quinlan

WITCHES in Kells, ghost-hunters in Loftus Hall, a celebrity psychic-medium and a past-life regression; not everyone will admit to an interest in the spirit world, or even in the after-life, but for most of us the topic is fascinating.

For model, DJ and reality TV star, Vogue Williams, the death of her beloved father, in November, 2010, was the catalyst for an investigation into the question that haunts mankind — is death really the end?

Tonight, she finds the answer in an RTÉ documentary, Vogue Does The Afterlife.

In the years since her Dad, Freddie, died, the 28-year-old, who came to fame on the TV reality show, Fade Street, has been drawn to the possibility of making contact with her father through a psychic medium.

“I was always as interested in this area — as much as everyone is, I suppose — but I never went to see a medium, though I did go to a fortune teller,” says Vogue.

“It was something I wanted to investigate when my dad died. I had a long think about the show,” she says.

Vogue is up for trying most things, she says, so, after much thought, she gave the idea a shot.

Several witches, some ghost-hunters, a past-life transgression expert and a celebrity medium later, Williams is more open to the idea of an after-life, she says.

Plus, she enjoyed meeting some very unusual people.

“I thought it’d be odd, but I found these people very positive. The witches especially were great craic, as was Joe Power — he’s a medium who is based in the UK, but visits Ireland.

“I enjoyed their company. They’re really very positive, nice people.”

The experience “helped me heal, it brought me a bit of closure,” she says.

“I surrounded myself with death for the duration of the show and it put a different spin on it for me,” she says.

The psychics changed her attitude to the other world, she says:

“They believe that spirits vibrate on a different level to us and that they (the spirits) can see us, but that we cannot see them unless we’re born with a gift to see them.”

Now, she says, she believes that there is more to death that we acknowledge: “I thought, maybe, that wasn’t the end of it, that there’s more to it. I don’t think my Dad is just dead; I feel him around me all the time.”

She spent two weeks filming Vogue Does The Afterlife: “We went to meet witches in Kells — they were lovely and I spent a day with them.

“I had past-life regression with another lady and I went to Loftus Hall; that was brilliant. I got a big fright down there.

“We met ghost hunters in Loftus Hall and they set up loads of things to catch images on camera and we did get some stuff on camera that we see on the show. “

However, as well as hearing accounts from near-death survivors and people who’re convinced they’ve made contact with dead loved-ones, Vogue also met with the scientists and sceptics who dismiss it as hocus-pocus.

In the end, she was left with a decision to make — whether or not to go ahead and attempt to contact her father?

We’ll find out tonight, but, in the meantime, she says “I find now that I’m a firm believer in the afterlife — it has made me realise that there is something beyond death; it has definitely convinced me,” and says that the programme “was definitely the most intensive thing I’ve done to date.”

And what does her famous husband think?

“I think Brian’s quite sceptical; he’s not a big believer, but he’s also not one to put down my beliefs and he’s very much looking forward to the show.

“I think he might change a bit, even from the experiences I had during the show that I told him about.”

She really enjoyed the experience, she says.

“I’m lucky in what I’m getting to do with RTÉ. This is my show and that was very close to my heart.”

We’ll be seeing more of Ms Williams in the future, though she won’t give details — she’s sworn to secrecy, she says: “I’ve already got more shows with RTÉ lined up — completely different topics — - but they’re things I really love!

“I have some stuff coming up in the UK next year, as well. I can’t talk about it; it’s TV, but I’m sworn to secrecy!

“Fade Street was great; it was a build toward what I wanted to do, which is TV presenting,” she says.

However, she still DJ’s on Spin 103 on Saturday nights, between 9.45pm and 11.45pm:

“ I love that, because I make the show myself, and it’s my own mix.”

Vogue Does The Afterlife, Thursday, December 18, 10.00pm on RTÉ2