Who is Una Healy? Tipperary Saturdays star's famous uncle, throuple rumours and TV career

From teaching herself how to play the guitar as a child to her famous showband singing uncle Declan Nerney, Una Healy has always had music running through her blood.

Born and raised in Thurles to John and Anne Healy, Una was an All-Ireland swimming champion at the tender age of nine, and has often said she could've became an Olympic swimmer if she hadn't turned her passion to music.

Realising the path she wanted to take at the age of 13, Una swapped her swimming goggles for her mother's guitar and started to write her own songs.

Upon finishing school at the age of 18, she took a year out and worked as a medical secretary, going on to study nursing and then primary school teaching at Mary Immaculate College in Maynooth, before finally deciding to pursue her music career at the age of 23.

Kicking off her new musical career, Una started gigging around pubs and clubs in Ireland and even won the popular Glinsk Song Contest in Galway in both 2004 and 2006. 

From there she went on to be a back-up singer for Brian Kennedy who represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006 in Athens with the song 'Every Song Is a Cry for Love'.

As she slowly built up a name for herself on the music scene in Ireland, Una was still struggling to find any major success, so she did what any musician would do and headed to London with her guitar in tow. 

Her big break came in 2007, when she landed her first audition with a major label for a new girl group The Saturdays, which would go on to dominate the charts in the UK for the next seven years.

Along with her bandmates Mollie King, Rochelle Humes, Frankie Bridges and Vanessa White, Una shined as vocalist and songwriter and the group made waves in the charts with their singles Ego, Up, and Issues, to name a few.

In 2012, Una's personal life started to make the headlines when she married her boyfriend of four years and rugby union star Ben Foden, just four months after the couple welcomed their beautiful baby daughter Aoife Belle.

Una and her then husband Ben Foley

The pair married in an intimate ceremony in the Church of the Assumption in Bansha followed by their reception in the stunning Kilshane House.

Signing an exclusive deal with OK! Magazine, there were very little photos released of the day as the couple wanted to remain private.

The Saturday's then made the decision to disband in 2014, with all five members wanting to pursue their own solo careers, with Una heading back to her roots and presenting Una's Dream Ticket on RTÉ.

The show's premise saw kids from all over Ireland join Una who tried to make their dreams come true, from meeting their favourite football player or pop singer to a trolley dash in a toy shop.

In the same year, Una and her husband Ben welcomed their new baby son Tadgh, but the couple were soon rocked by cheating allegations after Una had devastatingly found text messages on Ben's phone to another woman.

It was revealed Ben had cheated on Una just days after the birth of their second child on a night out with his rugby friends. The couple subsequently divorced and their marriage finally ended in 2018.

Speaking about her divorce in a candid interview with Vogue Williams, Una said she felt "embarrassed and ashamed", following the public split.

"I'd go into the shop and people would be looking at me like 'oh there she is'. I had to get away from that because we were a couple in that town. It is embarrassing. Obviously, it was the right thing to do. We needed to split up and divorce. We couldn't stay together. It was the way it was.

"You always feel like you're being judged by people and you always see the couples and the families and you just feel so lonely because that is not you anymore", she told Vogue.

Throughout this tumultuous time, Una also made several TV appearances including as a panellist on a sports reality show Let’s Get Gold, a contestant on the diving show Splash! And a judge on the fourth series of The Voice of Ireland, alongside other judges Kian Egan, Bressie and Rachel Stevens of S Club 7 fame.

After a few months of moving around England, Una made the decision to move back to Tipperary with her two kids, while Ben relocated to the US.

Speaking to Women’s Way, Una revealed that she was thankful her children will experience a similar childhood to hers, growing up in Ireland.

She said: “Ireland is an amazing place for kids to grow up and I had a wonderful childhood here, and I’m so lucky that my kids are going to have the same experience.

“It was lovely in the UK and I was happy there, but I did feel it was time to come home. I think this is the right place for all of us.”

Since then, Una has kept busy working on her music, releasing singles and making TV appearances, and in 2020 came out with her own brand of designer shoes that are sold across 100 stores across the UK and Ireland.

In 2023, the rumour mill went into overdrive yet again, as Una came under the spotlight after it was alleged that she was in a “throuple” with boxer David Haye and his girlfriend Sian Osborne after pictures of the trio emerged.

The pic that launched a thousand online rumours - Una with boxer David Haye and girlfriend Sian Osborne

Speaking about it on Joanne McNally’s and Vogue Williams podcast, My Therapist Ghosted Me!, Una spilled the tea, and the truth. about what had exactly happened.

“The T word that I had to Google myself because I’ve never heard of it in my life”, she admitted.

“Dating him is the right term because that’s how it was, it wasn’t a throuple. I met him last summer on a dating app. I haven’t had any luck on it really, I did meet David and we had a lovely relationship.

“After a couple of messages, we moved it to WhatsApp and then I just straight out said to him, what are you looking for in a relationship and he goes, ‘Well I’ve just split up with my girlfriend and I’m single, but I don’t believe that the traditional relationship exists anymore’.

“I’m a monogamous person and hopefully one day I will settle down again with a nice, monogamous man. That’s what I want.”

Next up for Una, survival of the fittest in the Central American jungle.

The 42-year-old Tipp stunner will be joining other celebs such as Mel B and Shirley Ballas in the wilds of the Costa Rican wilderness for a new survival show on Netflix fronted by Holly Willoughby and Bear Grylls.

Una has already proved herself to be fierce, independent and ready for anything so this new adventure should be a walk in the park!