Laura O'Mahony: I'm a beacon of body positivity, but I can still go on the weight loss jab

As she fronts a new children's TV show, comedian, podcaster and presenter Laura O'Mahony talks about motherhood, the importance of having fun as adults and the complexities of changing in the public eye 

Laura O'Mahony. Picture: Joleen Cronin

Laura O’Mahony has received some “feedback” from Instagram followers recently.

It’s an attack that will sound familiar to many women who have reached a certain level of success, particularly those with an online presence: You’ve changed.

“It’s because you listen to the podcast,” O’Mahony offers as a response to one such commenter. “I haven’t changed; it’s just that you have more access to my thoughts.”

“I went on the weight loss jab, and that sent a lot of people away. They said, ‘I thought you were this beacon of body positivity’ — which I still am. But you’re not allowed to change, you’re not allowed to try and get healthier.”

The Cork mum of three says most of the hate comes from other women.

“I love women, obviously, but if I put up a sketch, it’s always women in my DMs saying you shouldn’t do that. You shouldn’t have said that. You’re attacking someone else, and I’m like, are you onto Tommy Tiernan? Are you in Mario Rosenstock’s DMs? Or are they allowed? Because they’re funny men? Are they allowed to just be funny?

“You can’t be a mom with three kids and still think that you can be funny. You must stay in your well-behaved box.

“I can’t bear it.”

Justifiable rant over, O’Mahony says she is having a “great time” but she thinks “putting more work into happiness will be good” for her. ”Children’s telly is a very happy place.”

She should know. This month, she steps into the presenter’s seat for her second kids’ show.

O’Mahony’s career in children’s television initially began on the RTÉ KIDSjr show Body Brothers. Now, she stars in her own series, Auntie B’s Fantastic Facts!, streaming on RTÉ Player. As a “curiosity queen” and inventor, she hosts the show, exploring science with a crew of children and highlighting real-life young scientists.

“Programmes like Auntie B’s Fantastic Facts! are needed,” she enthuses. “It’s light, it’s fun.”

Laura O'Mahony as Auntie B for the kid's TV show 'Auntie B's Fantastic Facts!' Picture: RTÉ

A mum herself – to 10-year-old Polly, 8-year-old Alfie, and 2-year-old Freddie – she shares her passion for quality children’s television, especially those made in Ireland.

“I love [my kids] being able to watch Irish people on telly with Irish accents. It’s a bit like trying to recapture the magic of The Den that I had. I grew up watching Ian Dempsey on The Den, and then Ray D’Arcy with Zig and Zag, Podge and Rodge, all of that.

“Podge was so scary,” says the comedian and host of the Red Raw podcast with Rob Heffernan.

“He was terrifying and it was so exciting. I think sometimes things are so sanitised that we forget kids are able for craic, they’re able for a little bit of all of this.”

“I also think there’s lots of craic in Auntie B and I think that the younger our kids can be exposed to adults having craic and fun and not just being informative. I think that’s gorgeous, and I want that for my kids.

“This is living, you know, like being sad and stressed and worried and panicked is obviously a part of everyday life. But we have to remember how to have fun. How are our kids going to learn to have fun unless we show that? I’m not fun all the time.

“I’m often quite strict at home, but I feel like my kids know that if you scratch the surface, my main operational way of being is being good craic. I do think that we forget that as parents, and when people become moms and dads for the first time, sometimes they lose all signs of craic because it’s all stressy, you have to find a way back to it if you can at all.

“Kids need craic more than anything. My kids are still very small. They have such an appetite for mischief and fun, and I do think that we lose that as adults too at a point.”

In these days of international streaming, it’s crucial that Irish children hear Irish accents on TV, she says.

“Auntie B is a bit quirky, and she has a Cork accent no matter what you do with her,” she says. “Kids see themselves reflected back, and I really like that.” O’Mahony’s kids have already seen her new show.

Laura O'Mahony has a passion for quality children’s television, especially those made in Ireland. RTÉ Picture: Joleen Cronin

“The older two now are fairly into it,” she says. “One day we had a photoshoot recently, and I came into school with my hair and makeup done like Auntie B and I could feel for one of the first times that they thought, this is pretty cool!

“I think it’s nice for them to see Mammy working as well because I don’t go out to work all the time. So it’s nice to be able to say, you know, Mammy is still following all of her hopes and dreams. I like that particularly for Polly, for my little girl. Yes, Mammy is here pretty much 24/7, but when she’s not here, she’s off doing what she really, really wants to do.”

O'Mahony is well known for her successful podcast, Red Raw, which she co-hosts with race walking Olympian Rob Heffernan. It’s a weekly show, airing every Monday, with an emphasis on “rawness, realness, and resilience”. The pair were unlikely co-hosts on Cork’s Red FM’s breakfast show.

“We have the same kind of response to life, I think. Rob is constantly on the quest for craic. He cares deeply about being a role model for his kids and all that. We have similar feelings on the world, we hate small talk, we hate doses. Rob is one of the most alive people you could ever meet and is just buzzing all the time. And he’s so open with his emotions. I think both of us are a bit like that.”

For O’Mahony, her greatest hope for her children is that they retain theirs.

“They have that feeling that they can do anything. I don’t want that to ever leave my kids. I’m one of those complete overbearing mothers that says you can do anything. You’re fabulous and wonderful. The words we teach them are so important.”

More broadly, “my role is not to add to the sadness of the world,” she reflects. “I think the skill I have is to add to the happiness of the world.”

• Auntie B’s Fantastic Facts! is streaming on the RTÉ Player now