Lucy Kennedy: 'You are going to love James McClean'

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Lucy Kennedy has been singing the praises of Irish football star James McClean, who features on Sunday night's episode of Living With Lucy, saying she "arrived a stranger and left a friend."

The new season of Living With Lucy, which sees the TV and radio host move in with a celebrity for a few days, started last week with a visit to Caitlyn Jenner’s house in Malibu and tomorrow night, Lucy spends quality time with McClean, his wife Erin and their four children.

From his childhood estate in Creggan, Co. Derry, to the pitch at Wrexham AFC, she follows James through all the places and people that have shaped him.

Along the way, she meets his parents, gets a crash course in boxing, and hopes to bump into a few Hollywood A-listers at a Wrexham match.

On Sunday’s Living With Lucy, McClean opens up about the poppy controversy that has followed him throughout his career, the abuse he receives from football fans, his autism diagnosis in his 30s, and why he continues to speak out despite the backlash.

"You are going to love James," Kennedy says. "He could be said to be slightly controversial because he refuses to wear the poppy. He plays for Wrexham and he’s obviously an extremely proud Irishman and he refuses point blank to wear the poppy on the pitch and having lived with him, I have a greater understanding.

"Going back to his hometown of Derry, he is very proud of his roots and there was a lot of horror in the past for the people of Derry.

"I got to live with him and his wife and four children. He was diagnosed with autism recently, as was his daughter. And he gets a lot of online abuse and abuse from the stands so there was loads to talk to him about."

She adds, "He was a really interesting person to talk to. He was very shy, not necessarily media friendly so I was so glad that his wife convinced him to do the show. I arrived a stranger and left a friend. I have a lot of time for James and his beautiful family. I loved them."

She also goes behind the scenes at Wrexham’s home ground. "Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney were there," Kennedy says. "I tried to spy on them but I think word got to them that there was a nosy Irishwoman hanging around and I think they left. It was very cool to see behind the scenes at Wrexham - it’s just like the TV show."

The first episode of the new series of Living with Lucy saw her slumming it with Caitlyn Jenner in her strange hill-top military installation-like house in Malibu and living with the Trump-supporting former athlete and Keeping Up with the Kardashians star proved a very interesting experience.

"Politically, she is not my type of person," Kennedy says. "But she would be my kind of person in that she is reality TV, she’s great fun, she’s a great talker. So, I did enjoy my time with her but we disagreed when it came to our political beliefs, which is fine.

"I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve lived with sixty guests; I now know that I can live with someone and talk to them even if I disagree with them. Myself and Caitlyn come from very different walks of life.

"She’s 75, I’m 49, she’s a transgender Republican living in the States, I’m an Irish mother of three living in Ireland. I was born the year Bruce Jenner won a medal at the Olympics. Myself and her being able to live under one roof comfortably shows that you can have a conversation with someone you disagree with."

Sunday World crime correspondent and podcaster Nicola Tallant also features on the new series and Kennedy says living with her was an eye-opener.

"She is a fascinating person is so many ways," she says. "Probably the calmest and strongest woman I’ve met in a long time. She is quite hard to read. I think she is brilliant at her job.

"I think she is very fair and she has a nice way about her when she speaks to people, she is not condescending or rude. She’s very factual. I loved her. We got into our pyjamas and had a glass of wine together. We had great craic.

"I saw more than the crime journalist. I got to see a fellow mum who likes to switch off at the end of the day."

Lucy chooses all the guests for the show herself ("I’ve never lived with somebody I didn’t want to live with") and she said recently that he dream guests are Tánaiste Simon Harris, Ryan Tubridy and Piers Morgan. All, however, have said no.

"They’re all blaming their wives - it happens," she says. "Simon Harris was in studio and I went up and asked him to do the show and he said you’d have to ask my wife and I said you can’t blame your wife but obviously he’s very busy.

"Ryan is very private. I’ve known him for a long, long time and I understand that he just doesn’t want a camera crew in his home and Piers is just playing hard to get. He’s not shy, he’s not media shy. We all know he loves the camera so I think I might get him for the next series. We’re getting closer.

"There’s something about Piers. He’s marmite. Piers is TBC. He’s not off my list. I wll get him eventually."

Between her weekday morning radio show, writing books, her tv work and raising three children with her husband out in Dun Laoghaire, Lucy remains very busy.

And there is no danger of having the tables turned and having somebody move in with her to see what living with Lucy is really like.

"I’m too boring," she says. "I don’t really have a good work/life balance to be honest with you. There are days I lie on the ground crying, thinking on my god, why did I say yes? But the way it works for me is that Living With Lucy comes out September/October, as do the books, the kids are going back to school. September to December is always painful for me. I wish that I could spread everything out.

"I go to yoga once a week and I walk my dog. I’m no good with time management. Everything is a little last minute with me. I need someone to step into my life and tell me how to live a more organised and calm existence."

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