Maïa Dunphy: 'You couldn’t exist forever in grief — nobody could. It is brutal, and it is awful'

Elle Gordon meets Maïa Dunphy to discuss grief, loss and fronting a new campaign to raise awareness for Irish cancer charities

Maïa Dunphy: "I think the most awful human emotion is fear and I never want anyone I love to be afraid, so if that kind of defiance of, ‘I am going to get better’ is what that person needs, then I think you have to go with that." Pics: Nina Val Photography

“Grief is the price we pay for love.” I’ve heard this quote often since losing my dad, Trevor, to cancer in 2020. 

It contains a fundamental truth that is devastating: in allowing ourselves to love, we become hostages to fortune, with the all-encompassing sorrow of grief an inevitability.