Inside Aisling Bea’s life from secret real name to famous boyfriend and surprising net worth
By Anita McSorley,Danni King
Copyright irishmirror
Aisling Bea is gearing up to appear on the RTE Late Late Show tonight. She is among the star-studded guests who will chat to Patrick Kielty in front of a studio audience.
The 41-year-old actress and comedian will talk about joining the new series Grown Ups and her joy at filming at home in Ireland. The Kildare native will also chat about the inspiration behind her next stand-up tour Older Than Jesus and why she’s proud to be the face of Oxfam Ireland’s Second-Hand September.
Also on tonight’s show are Traitors stars Christine, Katelyn, Paudie and Andrew, renowned authors Marian Keyes and Stefanie Preissner, actor Anthony Boyle and the parents of Harvey Morrison, Gillian Sherratt and Stephen Morrison.
Ahead of Aisling’s appearance on RTE tonight, we take a look at her life away from the cameras.
Early years
Aisling was born in Co Kildare. She has a younger sister, Sinéad, and was raised by her mother, Helen, a secondary school teacher and former professional jockey. Aisling’s father, Brian, a horse vet, died when she was three years old.
Aisling comes from a family of horse lovers. Her mother was a professional jockey and previously worked at the Racing Academy and Centre of Education. In her younger years, Aisling worked as a tour guide at the Irish National Stud but soon decided she wasn’t interested in horse racing.
With a passion for performing, Aisling eventually studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and began looking for work as an actress.
Aisling has been dating producer and composer Jack Freeman for more than three years. Jack, who hails from London, is a bassist and was once a member of the band Jagwar Ma. He now tours with Foals, with whom he began performing in 2020. He performed with the band at Glastonbury in 2022.
Jack and Aisling tend to keep their romance out of the spotlight, with him having previously paid tribute to the comedian on social media. In a sweet post to mark their anniversary, Jack penned: “To 1 whole year with m’lady @weemissbea.”
In March 2024, Aisling announced she was expecting her first child with boyfriend Jack. She shared a fun snap of her blossoming bump on Instagram to share the news. The hilarious snaps showed a cartoon face painted onto her tummy after she had performed a back-up dance with funny man Seth Herzog at Big Slick 24.
Aisling announced she and Jack had welcomed a daughter in August 2024. She posted photographs on Instagram and reflected on her pregnancy in a lengthy “TripAdvisor review of pregnancy”.
Looking back a the tough pregnancy, Aisling admitted she had suffered “UTIs, bleeding, depression, cramps, insomnia, nosebleeds, sinus blockage, migraines, vomiting, being randomly touched by people without asking, bones mushing, organs moving, skin stretching, being told that you’ll forget all the pain/that it’s a privilege / that it will all be “worth it” in the end, heightened awareness of climate change and worst of all- boredom- all described as « normal » and was repeatedly recommended « a nice bath » as a fix to all of the above.”
However, she jested that she was given a ‘little gift at check out’, referring to her newborn, adding: “Which is, admittedly, quite cute”.
Aisling’s full name is Aisling ClÃodhnadh O’Sullivan. She has revealed that her stage name, Aisling Bea, is a tribute to her late father.
Speaking on My Therapist Ghosted Me with Vogue Williams and Joanne McNally, she said: “There was already a great Irish actress called Aisling O’Sullivan, and so you can’t be called like, Judy Frank Dench, you have to get a new name because being an actor is like having your own business.”
She added: “I took Bea from the start of BrÃan Ó Súilleabháin.” The star then joked that she was “carrying a bit of that trauma with me at all times, lest I forget.”
It’s believed Aisling’s work as a comedian, actress and screenwriter has made her a multi-millionaire, with various sources estimating her net worth at around $2 million (€1.7m) – however this figure has never been officially confirmed.
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