Pippa O'Connor on grief of losing her mum: "I feel bad for her"

Pippa O'Connor has opened up about the grief of losing her mum and the experience of missing her, 10 years after she passed.

The former model and business owner, who owns her POCO fashion label as well as the POCO beauty line, appeared on the Phone Truths with Carl Mullen podcast, where she discussed everything from owning a business and passing the entrepreneurial spirit down to her three sons, to managing grief and keeping a loved one's memory alive.

The conversation coincided with the anniversary that week of O'Connor's mum passing a decade ago, a milestone that the beauty mogul explained made the pain of grief feel fresh again.

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Recalling the phone call she got about her mum's passing, she said, "That was pretty horrendous". O'Connor was living with her husband Brian Ormond in Meath at the time, and Ollie, their eldest son, had just turned one.

"I nearly forget Ollie's first and second year", O'Connor said. "I always say to Brian, thank God for you at the time because I don't really remember, it was like a weird, hazy year because it was such a shock as well. To get a phone call like that, your whole body just goes into this like, shock, autopilot mode."

She added that grief is a true rollercoaster of feelings, saying that, "Some months and years that pass, you're actually okay". However, with the 10-year mark met, O'Connor said she was feeling as bad now as she did that first year.

"It's like the memory of that person is just getting further away, so that's sad."

As for her tips on getting through grief, she said, "I think it's to feel the moment and to not try and resist it and not try and go, oh it's been three years so I should be okay. You just have to go with it and be kind with yourself."

She added that it also depends on how your loved one has passed away, and whether you're able to fully process it in the moment.

Speaking about how important it was that her mum got to experience being a grandmother to her son and her sister's children, O'Connor noted how good times often prompt feelings of missing someone more.

"I think sometimes when someone's gone, that really emphasises the happy times more. It's not just when thing are sad, they make you sad. When something happy happens like the birth of a baby or something cool happening in business, that actually can really make me feel sad.

"I feel bad for her, you feel bad for that person for missing those moments.

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She highlighted how much of a role model her mum was to her in business, too. Earlier in the conversation, O'Connor spoke about the reality of running a business, and how her sons are starting to pick up lessons on being an entrepreneur. She told Mullen how her eldest son Ollie, 11, has begun asking for help setting up "his brand".

"Only a few months ago he was like, will you buy the website for me and I really want to think about what I'm going to have on this site", she said, adding that Ollie has even brought a business model to his parents.

"I love all that creative side of things so I definitely encourage that entrepreneurial part of someone, I think that's amazing to nurture that and say to them, yeah, absolutely, of course you can!"

As for whether or not they'll follow in their parents' footsteps? "Probably not, but it's cute now at this age that they show an interest", O'Connor said.

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