Louise McSharry: 'I felt like everyone I went to school with was living this perfect life except for me'
Louise McSharry.
Louise McSharry presents Weekend Mornings on RTÉ 2FM on Saturdays and Sundays at 9am. Originally from Dublin, she moved to Chicago as a child before returning to Ireland again at 16.
Growing up, I loved watching talk shows on TV. Oprah was my favourite. It’s funny because so much of what I like to do now work-wise is similar to her. She was very honest, always herself. It’s something I connected with.
Also she came from not-the-most-straightforward family background. Neither do I. She talked to normal people from different walks of life with different back stories before eventually moving onto interviewing celebrities. I liked the fact you got to see people who had struggles.
That probably made me feel a bit more normal when I didn't feel totally normal in the context of my small, suburban town outside Chicago. I felt like everyone I went to school with was living this cookie-cutter, perfect life except for me, basically. It made me feel less alone.
I loved Ricki Lake as well. She ran the whole gamut. She might do a makeover show.
She might have someone on who was, like, “My family don't accept me because I'm gay” or “I wear women's clothing”. You never knew what you were going to get.
Again, it was the only way I could access people who lived totally different lives to me. I was in a bit of a bubble.
There were very few even black people in my town in America. It opened my mind to the fact there are all kinds of people out there.
I moved back to Ireland when I was 16. I noticed huge cultural differences between the two countries. I’m a very open person.
Part of that is probably because I spent so many years living in America. At times when I was in secondary school back in Dublin, people would have said that I was making things up; for example, that I didn’t live with my biological parents, or that my dad had died, or that my mother was an alcoholic and that she was still in America.
I wasn’t making things up. I was just sharing everything in a way that other people weren’t. I started to edit myself a bit. I realised people weren’t quite ready for someone who was willing to spill their guts on everything immediately. I’ve made my way back to that person who inherently is who I am.
I love The Real Housewives. It’s my private comfort. There are 10 instalments of the American version. It’s been airing since 2006.
The New York City series is my favourite. It’s about groups of women interacting with each other. For me, it’s the perfect turn-off-your-brain escapism. In theory, they’re all quite wealthy so it’s supposed to be somewhat aspirational, but it’s not.
A lot of them are unhappy. You get sucked into their petty dramas like, say, “You sat at the middle of the table at my birthday dinner.” Or it could be serious. You never know what you’re going to get. I find it brilliant.
Another favourite of mine is the film Steel Magnolias with Shirley MacLaine, Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis, Sally Field, Julia Roberts.
They’re women in a small southern town in America. It’s mainly about their friendships. They’re all strong, smart, funny women.
I guess that’s a consistent feature, which is important to me, for most of the media I consume.
I first watched Steel Magnolias at an age that wasn’t appropriate. I think I was six. At the time, what I probably loved was Dolly Parton.
I’ve loved her my whole life. Her glamour really attracted me. There’s a scene in the film where they’re in a beauty parlour. Dolly Parton is doing Julia Roberts’ hair.
It’s the dressing up, the glamour, the way she does her hair, the way she combs it out, that caught my eye.
I went to see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind on my own. I love going to the cinema on my own. Your perspective on the film isn’t influenced by anyone else. You’re not subjected to the “did you like it conversation?” afterwards.
I went to see it at The Screen on D’Olier Street in Dublin, RIP. I was in my early twenties. It blew my mind. I remember leaving the cinema and I wanted to stop people on the street and go, “You have to see this film.” It impacted me in some crazy way.
I haven’t seen it since, but the idea of being able to erase memory – the fact you could take your trauma and get rid of it – has stayed with me.
When I was a kid I had a voracious appetite for reading books about the Holocaust. One book I’ve read many times is The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss.
It’s still in my parents’ house, and it’s falling apart. It was published in 1972. It’s about a girl and her older sister who were hidden in a bedroom in Holland during the Second World War. Not a lot happens in the book.
It’s more about her relationship with her sister and the way they occupy themselves in this room within the context of that fear of being discovered and the little bits of news that gets to them from the world outside.
I loved both of Sally Rooney’s novels. There’s something about them being set in Dublin. She’s around the same generation as myself; she’s a bit younger than me. It gives a relatability to her novels. You’re looking out for spots that you recognise as you’re reading.
I know some people complain they didn’t like the characters in Conversations With Friends, but I don’t care. I don’t need to like the characters in novels, TV or films so long as the story is there, and she writes very believable people – you’ve probably met someone similar at a party at some stage. You can imagine them so well. I can’t wait for whatever her next book is going to be.
I love Robyn. If I had to pick one album of hers it would probably be Robyn from 2008. It was the first album she released on her own label. It’s brilliant pop music.
She’s the queen of the sad banger, which is a song that you could dance to forever but is quite sad. Dancing On My Own, for example, is one of her songs. Songs that are a great bop but also are incredibly sad. I just love that kind of electronic pop.
