When Hot Press come a-knocking on the front door of TV presenter Michelle Doherty’s three-bedroom duplex, we’re lucky she answers.
Between working five days a week as an Aer Lingus air hostess, modeling and presenting Channel 6’s Night Shift, she’s barely home.
“I’m lucky if I get a day off,” she sighs. “I’d love to be able to sit and chill out, but I just don’t get the chance. Though actually, I would die if had too much time on my hands. I’ve been modeling since I started working at Aer Lingus, so I’m used to being under pressure and always being on the go.”
Her home in Drumcondra, where she’s lived since October, is shared with two friends, one from Donegal and another known only as Brian.
“I had to get to know them after I moved in, but it’s like I’ve known them all my life now,” she admits, “though we don’t get a chance to hang out because our work schedules are different. Normally it’s just a chat before we go to bed.”
Have they had any crazy parties?
“No, my flatmates might have had a few, but I’ve never been here for them. I just normally gatecrash other people’s!”
A shame, as there are a few people in her estate she’d be certain to invite, Samantha Mumba and Bertie Ahern being just two.
“They’re very private,” she reveals about her celeb neighbours. “You don’t really see them at all. I think Bertie drinks in local bars, but if I was going out I’d be going into town, so I’d never bump into him.”
And where would she go in town, being a lass who is “young, free, single, and loving every minute of it”?
“Coccoon is virtually my second home. And then there’s Whelan’s and The Village along Camden Street.”
And surely she’d also be playing the celebrity circuit?
“No, not at all. I wasn’t born to be a celebrity, I’m sorry. I just don’t have the patience for it. If I could listen to bullshit I’d be fine, but I can’t, so I’m not. I’d end up being rude and get myself in trouble.”
That said, she has no problem going to exclusive hang-outs (“If my friends are going so I have nice company, I’d go anyway for some fun”) and counts Formula One racer Eddie Irvine as one of her exes, if the media are to be believed.
“Eddie and I are really good friends,” she says diplomatically. “And alright, we had a snog years ago, but it was nothing. We then became really close friends and every time he’s in town or I’m in the States, we meet up. I think the press can’t deal with it, that we’re just friends. But I know in my head, so I don’t need anyone else to tell me.”
Has he been around to check out your gaff?
“Yeah – but it didn’t end well! He stayed here one night and the next morning I had to go to work, so I told him I’d leave my keys out to let himself out and drop them in the letterbox afterwards. But after I’d gone and he was still asleep, my flatmate saw the keys, thought I’d dropped them, and took them with him. So Eddie was locked in and had to climb out the back window to leave!”
While her bedroom only has the basics (“because I basically live out of a suitcase”), the house as a whole is kitted out with all mod cons, something which suits her tastes.
“It’s gorgeous, very modern, which I prefer to more traditional stuff. I can’t deal with all those patterns and floral prints. That freaks me out a bit, it’s a bit like in The Shining,” she laughs.
And her mam will be proud to know that she keeps her abode relatively tidy.
“I’m a clean-freak, but actually not so much in my bedroom because I’m constantly out the door. I’ll be like, ‘I’ll leave that behind,’ or, ‘I don’t really need this.’ It’s not dirty though, it’s just a lot of it is clothes and stuff I haven’t had a chance to put away.”
Her job-juggling and social life mean there’s not much time to unwind, so the television doesn’t get switched on too often.
“My DVD collection consists of about 10 DVDs, which my brother nicked the other day, on the basis that I never watch them," she confesses.
Music, on the other hand, takes priority. For starters, she’s constantly messing about on iTunes and MySpace. Then there’s more traditional means of hearing new sounds: the radio.
“I love Tom Dunne, and Jenny Huston on 2FM – she plays really cool music. Though I like to listen to Spin as well. It’s quite an eclectic mix, but definitely my favourite type of music would be indie and rock. At the moment I’m listening to Dead 60s, Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party I love, and Snow Patrol.”
So Night Shift must be the perfect gig for such a muso?
“I love it. Sometimes I watch it purely because I love the music, and I’m like: ‘Alright, one more song and that’s it. Okay, one more song and that’s it.' And then next time I look at my watch, I’m like: 'Fuck, it’s 2 o’clock! Oh no!'”
Welcome to our world, Michelle.