Newlywed mum of two Amanda Brunker has revealed the main reason she married her longtime partner Philip McLaughlin was that she didn't want her children to be teased at school.
The 34-year-old former Miss Ireland turned novelist told the Evening Herald that she didn't want her two young sons, Setanta (2) and Edward (3), being teased that their parents were not married.
She said: "Irish law is messed up, and we have two children together so we wanted to do it by the book. I didn't want them being teased at school with children saying 'Oh your mummy and daddy aren't married'.
"It took me six or seven years to even get around to considering the concept but I thought to myself: 'Wait a minute, you may want to hang on to this fella', and we're so happy about it now."
Although she recently came around to the idea of marriage, she insisted that she will be keeping her name.
"I won't be changing my name. It's becoming a bit of a running joke, people are referring to Phil as Mrs Brunker now," she said.
The pair who recently married in a lavish, intimate ceremony in New York will be having another wedding next spring to include their families.
