Also from thefreelibrary.com from 2006:
THIS is the secret dad who abandoned Irish Hollywood heartthrob Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as a three-year-old toddler.
Gorgeous Jonathan, 28, scooped the Best Actor award at last week's Golden Globes for his performance in hit US TV show Elvis.
But behind the glamour lies years of heartache.
His dad John O'Keeffe, 46, left home when Jonathan was little more than a baby, leaving mum Mary to care for him and his three younger brothers.
Jonathan ended up in an orphanage and was expelled from school at just 16.
In an exclusive interview, folk musician John today tells for the first why he abandoned his four sons and insists they are now the best of friends.
Bar owner John said: "There is no book to tell you how to be a father.
"It wasn't the most ideal of beginnings. I was just 17 and a couple of months away from my 18th birthday when Jonathan was born.
"Things were harder in those days, I had four kids by the age of 21. There was no money in music and I had to be away a lot, but we're really good friends now.
"They're all great kids and I'm lucky that I'm still fairly young."
Jonathan beat Hollywood heavyweights Kenneth Brannagh, Donald Sutherland and Ed Harris to win the gong last week for his performance as music legend Elvis.
John, who left his native Cork in 1980 for a life on the road as a musician before settling in Jersey in the Channel Islands, added: "I was absolutely delighted he won. He rang me from the awards at around 4.30 in the morning here. It was totally unexpected, he was absolutely delighted when he rang.
"He could hardly remember going up to get the award, he could just remember being up there in front of lots of faces.
"The whole family was thrilled, we were up all night celebrating after we heard."
Jonathan's three younger brothers Jamie, Allan and Paul all live with devoted dad John on Jersey. The three brothers all play in a band called Suzy's Field.
John admits they were surprised the Cork heartthrob won the award.
He said: "I'm very proud, exceptionally so. He's a good lad, he's had problems in the past but he's done really well.
"None of us thought he'd get it. He was up for an Emmy before and he didn't get it.
"When he won I couldn't believe it, it's a huge achievement for someone so young.
"We're still in dreamland over it. He's come of age, all America knows who he is now."
John may have missed out on ' his son's early years - but he is ' making up for it it now.
The doting dad even got to see Jonathan in action when he visited him on the set of Elvis.
He said: "We get to see him quite regularly. We were all on set in New Orleans when he was doing Elvis. Time moves so slowly on a film set though, ' it can actually be quite boring. "After Hurricane Katrina we were joking will they let us in to America again, or will another disaster happen."
Jonathan - real name Jonathan Michael Francis O'Keeffe - changed his surname to Rhys - Meyers, taking Myers, his mother's maiden but changing the spelling to Meyers.
Discovered playing pool at just 16, the teen actor was adopted by wealthy Cork farmer Christopher Crofts and his family.
He went to live at their manor in Buttevant, Co Cork, and still uses it as his home, even telling fans to write to him there.
In his Golden Globe acceptance speech he referred to Christopher's son Chris, who is battling cancer, as his "brother".
And he often turns to Christopher Croft Snr for advice and regards him as a "surrogate" dad.
Jonathan recently bought mum Mary her own house in Glanmire - but stays with the Crofts when in Cork.
The turbulent star hit the headlines last year when he and his 18-year-old girlfriend Reena Hammer were arrested after a vicious row at their apartment.
Reena told officers he had hit her - and he accused her of bodily harm but Jonathan was the one who ended up spending the night in police cells. Dad John, a darts fanatic who runs the Bridge Bar in St Helier, insists his son is no bad boy.
He said: "He has been accused in the past of being a wild boy but when you have a lad of that age in that profession, with a bit of money in his pocket travelling the world, why wouldn't he live it up a bit?"
Jonathan was born in Dublin in July, 1977. As a tiny tot he was diagnosed with a weak heart and spent seven long months in St James hospital in an incubator.
Doctors feared he would die, and he was baptised in the hospital.
His parents, who were both factory workers at the time, were unmarried when he was born. But as he battled for life in hospital, his parents decided to wed and married in St Peter's Church, Cork. The following January they moved into Mary's home at James Street in the city.
Voluntary worker Mary had three younger sons, Jamie, Allan and Paul, and the family moved to Churchfield Hill, Cork.
John tried his hand at many jobs, including factory worker and forklift driver, but music was always his true love.
Now his three younger sons play with their band Suzy's Field and have even supported Deacon Blue and ex-Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown.
He said: "They called the band Suzy's Field after a field where the local kids would go to hang around and have a smoke or whatever.
"Jamie, my second youngest, went to London this week to further his music career.
"He hooked up with Sinead Lohan's brother Cillian to write some songs.
"I don't know if Jonathan got his artistic side from me.
"I'm a musician myself but I made more noise than money.
"His mother would have had a hand in it as well, she's a talented lady, she had that kind of way about her."
It was his love of music that brought John to his adopted hometown of St Helier, Jersey.
He said: "I was playing with a band in Ireland. It was when the Garth Brooks craze was big, we were a country rock band.
"A gentleman from Jersey, Gary Perkins, invited us over and I just fell in love with the place and moved over.
"I brought the lads over when they finished school and they loved it. It's a bit small for a music career though, that's why Jamie left."
Workaholic Jonathan has already appeared in Michael Collins, Alexander, Bend It Like Beckham, Vanity Fair and will star alongside Tom Cruise in upcoming big budget film Mission Impossible III.
He is currently in cinemas in Woody Allen's Match Point with Scarlett Johansson.
And John claims his hardworking son shows no signs of slowing down.
He said: "He has no real plans for time off. He will probably have a few weeks off with his girlfriend Reena.
"He's been lucky, he's done a lot of movies. He's starting something in New York soon.
"He throws these names at me but I'm not a major movie buff, though I'd watch everything he would be in."
Jonathan is dating London student Reena Hammer, 18.
The stunning teen is worth a fortune - her dad George owns the Urban Retreat spa in Harrods while mum Ruby is head of cosmetic giant Ruby and Millie.
But the rising star ignores the high life. He went on the wagon a year ago after too many boozy nights with Colin Farrell while filming Alexander.
And dad John says his famous son prefers quiet nights in: "He comes over here for a quiet visit whenever he gets the chance.'
Subject: Interview with John O'Keeffe (JRM's dad) 
Sat Apr 07, 2012 1:59 am