irish traveller paddy

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Who is Paddy Doherty, what happened to his son, who’s his wife and how many children does he have?

Here is all we know about the Celebrity Big Brother winner and leading light of the Irish Traveller community

• Sun Reporter
• Published : 14:17, 21 Aug 2018
• Updated : 15:05, 21 Aug 2018

PADDY Doherty is the reality TV gypsy who's family has recently been rocked by the tragic death of his nephew.

But who exactly is the former bare-knuckle boxer, what happened to his son, who's his wife, and how many children does he have?

Who is Paddy Doherty?

Patrick "Paddy" Doherty was born on the 6 February 1959 to Irish Traveller parents in Manchester.

Paddy is one of the most well known members of the "Traveller" community, beginning life as a bare-knuckle boxer and become one of Britain and Ireland's top reality TV stars.

He first came to the nation's attention after appearing on an episode of Danny Dyer's deadliest men.

The 58-year-old then went on to feature in the series My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding before entering the Celebrity Big Brother House in season *.

He made it to the final and won the competition, beating Kerry Katona.

Paddy also starred in a documentary series When Paddy Met Sally which saw him move in with wife of the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sally Bercow.

The pair lived under each other's roofs and rules for one episode each of the two part series in 2012.

During the same year he starred in Celebrity Bainisteoir in Ireland, a show that featured various celebs battling it out as Gaelic football team coaches.

Last year he starred in the Channel 5 series Gypsy Kids: Our Secret World.

What happened to Paddy's son?

Paddy's son David was jailed for three years in 2012 after his close friend James Loveridge died in a car crash while he was driving.

David Doherty, 27, pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving after his 4×4 Mitsubishi Shogun hit a parked car.

Fellow gypsy James died at the scene of the 4am smash in March 2012 after Doherty veered off the A55 near Talybont, North Wales, and crashed into the car in a layby.

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How many children does Paddy have and who is his wife?

Paddy is the proud father to a brood of 10 kids with his wife Roseanne.

His kids include: David, Patrick, Mary, Helen, Elizabeth and Miley.

Many of them still live on his caravan park in Queensferry, North Wales.

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Gypsy Paddy Doherty reveals all in his autobiography

GYPSY TV star Paddy Doherty has taken many beatings in his time, but the pain of losing five children remains far greater than any fist fight

• 00:00, 24 MAY 2012
• Updated 21:29, 18 APR 2013

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The Irish Traveller, famed for his appearance in Big Fat Gypsy Weddings and winning Celebrity Big Brother in 2011, has told all in his ghost-written autobiography.

It recalls the time Paddy, who lives at Riverside Caravan Park in Queensferry, bit off someone’s finger, had part of his own ear gnawed off, went through reconstructive surgery after having his jaw shattered and narrowly escaped death when he was shot in the head are just few of the anecdotes featured in the former bare-knuckle fighter’s brutal life story, Hard Knocks & Soft Spots.

The fact he can’t read or write didn’t put him off launching his ghost-written autobiography, which leaves no stone unturned.

Paddy, 53, won the hearts of millions when he showed his softer side in Celebrity Big Brother, becoming confidante to the likes of Kerry Katona and forming an unlikely friendship with Sally Bercow, the wife of the Speaker of the House of Commons.

“I am what I am,” he says of his relatively new-found celebrity. “I suppose I’m famous, but I had problems coming to terms with that. When thousands of people vote for you, you have to become somebody.”

He and Bercow went on to appear in a Wife Swap-style documentary, When Paddy Met Sally, and are about to start filming a new around-the-world series of adventures together for Channel 5.

“When I first met her I loved her voice. She made out she was rough but she wasn’t. She was what we Travellers call a horse of a different colour. She wasn’t what she made herself out to be, and we ended up having many interesting conversations.”

Bercow and her three children have since been to stay with Paddy and his family at his chalet and he’s visited the Houses of Parliament. They remain good friends, he says.

He believes TV shows like Big Fat Gypsy Weddings have changed the public’s perception of Travellers.

“My community loved it. We didn’t act it out. Then when I won Big Brother, the response of celebration I got from thousands of Travellers was unreal. I took a big gamble and came out trumps.”

But there were criticisms from some travellers who felt the Gypsy series misrepresented them.

He says there is a lot of secrecy within the travelling community as to their cultures and traditions. Children are brought up in the strict Catholic faith, men are the breadwinners, women keep the home and families stick together whatever happens.

However, his admissions in the book about the barbaric violence, scrapes with the law and some of the methods used to make money will surely not endear him to law-abiding citizens.

Selling dodgy cars at auction, burning piles of tyres to reclaim the steel inside them to sell for scrap and using stolen rings on his wedding day are among the events recorded.

“My honesty will get me into a lot of trouble,” he says. “But that’s the life I lived.”

Paddy had a nomadic upbringing in the North and Midlands, moving from Manchester to various sites in and around Birmingham. He hardly went to school and beyond the gates of the camps encountered hostility.

His grandparents posed as his parents during his early years and it wasn’t until he was a teenager, and sent to live with his ‘sister’ Maggie and her family, that the truth emerged – Maggie was actually his mother but, as she’d been unmarried when she had him, it had been kept quiet to avoid bringing shame on the family.

While much of the book focuses on the violent side of his life, Paddy has also experienced great sadness with his wife of 34 years, Roseanne.

After having five healthy children, their next four died from a genetic disorder called Fraser syndrome.

The first time it happened, doctors said afterwards they could test for the condition during the early stages of pregnancy, but as Catholics the couple didn’t believe in abortion, so opted not to.

Roseanne carried all the babies to term and nearly died from complications during one of the births. Her last pregnancy, with twins, ended with one being stillborn.

“She had a couple of breakdowns through it all,” he recalls. “You get to the stage where you are sick of all the white coffins and you want to escape from everything, but you’ve got to put a smile on your face and pretend that you’re OK.”

The family was dealt another massive blow when their eldest son Patrick, 18, was killed in a road accident with his cousin and a friend in 1996.

Paddy sought solace in drugs and alcohol.

“I didn’t cope with it. I’d sleep at the grave, go down there and play his music and escaped from everything by hitting drugs. I was on cocaine, Ecstasy and LSD”, he said.

As grief enveloped the family, he and Roseanne drifted apart.

“Roseanne would come to me and cry, but I couldn’t cry to her. I’d always been told not to show my emotions so I’d walk down the road and roar my brains out alone.”

His weight plummeted from 17st to seven as he continued to drown his sorrows. Then one day in 1997 he saw an advert for the Manchester marathon and it reignited his fighting spirit.

He said: “It felt like a small light had switched back on inside me. I had a purpose. Each day I trained a little more and each day I felt a little fitter. The fog in my head was clearing.”

Paddy completed the marathon in under four hours and has never again touched drugs. His marriage is now stronger than ever and he remains close to his five surviving children and 15 grandchildren.

He has also found God and, as a born-again Christian, says he couldn’t have survived without his faith. He said: “If I didn’t have God in my life, I’d be dead now.”

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Paddy Doherty

• Born February 6 , 1959 · Manchester, England, UK
• Birth name Patrick Ward
• Paddy Doherty was born on February 6, 1959 in Manchester, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for Untitled Paddy Doherty Project , Rise of the Footsoldier 3 (2017) and Fight the Good Fight (2017) . He has been married to Roseanne Doherty since August 20, 1977.
• Spouse Roseanne Doherty (August 20, 1977 - present) (10 children)
• He is an Irish traveller and former bare-knuckle fighter.
• Paddy and his wife, Roseanne Doherty , had 10 children in total but 4 of their children - Helen, Mary Bridget, Elizabeth and Miley - died shortly after childbirth.
• His first born son, Patrick Simon Doherty (b. 15 June 1978), died in hospital aged 18 after sustaining injuries from a car crash on the 19 July 1996.
• Brother of Martin .
• He won series 8 of Celebrity Big Brother (2001) .

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Paddy Keenan

Irish Travellers Songs & Music

Field recordings made by photographer and author Alen MacWeeny between 1965 and 1971 to accompany his book Irish Travellers, Tinkers No More . This compilation includes rare recordings of Paddy and Johnny Keenan, The Fureys, Nellie Weldon, and more. NPR article

1. The Blackbird - Syke Ward

2. The High-Level Hornpipe - John Keenan

3. Long Time A-Growing - Bridget Furey

4. Dick Daglan The Cobbler - Johnny Cassidy

5. The High-Level Hornpipe - Johnny Connors

6. Dunphy's Hornpipe - Paddy Keenan

7. Lovely Willy - Kitty Cassidy

8. The Munster Cloak - Paddy Keenan

9. Na Connerys - The Furey family

10. Sligo Maid & Down The Broom - The Furey family

11. William Scanlan - Paddy Purcell

12. An Chuilfhionn - Paddy Keenan

13. The Patriot Game - Mary Hutchenson & Dominic Behan

14. Sliabh Na Mban - Mick Moriarty

15. Carrickfergus - Nellie Weldon

16. My Rifle, My Pony, and Me - Andy Cassidy

17. The Blue Tar Road - Liam Weldon

18. Sliabh Na Mban - Paddy Keenan

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Paddy & Liam

Capturing the childhood years of two traveller boys.

Paddy & Liam by Perry Ogden

Top image: Paddy & Liam by Perry Ogden

“They grew up living in a caravan in my former partner’s garden,” photographer Perry Ogden tells us, recounting how he met two Irish Traveller boys, Paddy and Liam. “Their parents were looking to get housed by the local council but it took many years.”

“Struck by their energy and their looks,” Ogden documented the boys on a series of occasions between 2012 and 2017. Working with stylist Tara St Hill, these images have now been transformed into a 128-page tome, following the pair as they explore the Irish landscape.

“I thought these images would make a very interesting book documenting that period of time from age ten to sixteen, which is such a transformative period in your life, a time when you are making discoveries and developing passions,” says Ogden. “I also wanted to reflect on the Ireland they were born into and the Ireland in which they are becoming adults.”

Paddy & Liam launches at Dover Street Market London on 15th March with a book signing. Get your copy at Dover Street Market, Ground Floor, 6 pm – 7 pm. Otherwise, it will be available online and in DSM stores worldwide on 16th March.

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Irish travellers including Paddy Doherty journey from all over the UK for the funeral of ‘Queen of the Gypsies’

Hardman joins dozens of mourners in paying tribute to much-loved Ellen McDonagh from Manchester

• Carl Stroud
• Published : 8:43, 20 Jan 2017
• Updated : 11:10, 22 Feb 2017

BIG Fat Gypsy Wedding star Paddy Doherty was among travellers from across the UK who came together for the funeral of the 'Queen of the Gypsies'.

The hardman, 57, joined dozens of mourners in paying tribute to Ellen McDonagh from Manchester who died aged 62 following a battle with cancer.

Friends from across the Irish traveller community and family attended a funeral at St Kentigerns RC Church, on in the Fallowfield area of the city yesterday.

Ellen had six children and 40 grandchildren. She leaves behind a partner, having lost two previous husbands under tragic circumstances.

The grandmother was diagnosed with cancer in her kidneys, which spread to her bowel and her lungs. She died in hospital on January 10.

Her family said she was well known in the traveller community and was living in a house in Levenshulme at the time of her death.

A family member said: “She was very well known in the Irish traveller community. Her nickname was Queen of the Gypsies.

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“She had such a hard life. Her first husband was killed tragically. Her second husband was killed tragically in a car crash. She brought up six kids on her own.”

The family member added: “She was known across Ireland and England.

“Everyone had respect for her and always said what a good woman and person she was. You would go to her she would always be there for you.

“She loved her children to bits and her grandchildren, we have all been left devastated.

“My family are going to be suffering now and left with no mother or father, her husband has been left devastated.”

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