2FM’s Carl Mullan: ‘I don’t think I was mentally prepared for becoming a dad – you mourn the loss of your old life’

The 2FM Breakfast host has two children with his wife Aishling, a son Daibhí who is about to turn three and a daughter Éala, who was born last year.

While it’s been three years since his first child arrived, Mullan said he is still figuring out what it means to be a dad.

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“I don’t think I was fully mentally prepared before becoming a dad for what it would mean,” Mullan said on RTÉ Radio One’s Brendan O’Connor show.

“I actually often talk to people about, like, the mourning of the loss of your old life. That’s probably the biggest thing I’ve had to try and figure out. You realise, oh, it’s gone. It is not coming back,” Mullan added.

Mullan, who said he has always struggled with body image, said it is something he has had to manage a lot in the last few years and becoming a dad has made him more aware of his health.

“It’s honestly just feeling self-conscious about putting on weight or clothes not fitting as well as you’d like and being out and about and wanting to look good,” Mullan said/

“But actually, a lot of it now, it’s even more deep-rooted, because I want to be the best version of myself for my kids,” he added.

Trying to be healthy has been a challenge, the presenter said, while balancing a busy work schedule with his family life.

“I want to be healthy and I want to be there for them. And sometimes, just because it’s so mad, you don’t get to be that best version of yourself the whole time,” the presenter said.

Mullan said he felt guilt sometimes when he wasn’t eating healthily, believing he wasn’t being the best version of himself.

“It’s nearly the fact that I know that just by eating healthy and exercising, I know I can be the best version of myself, creatively, and I can have more energy for my kids,” Mullan said.

“So there’s nearly a guilt around when you’re not eating properly because you’re just running on empty. That you’re going ‘but now I know I’m not being the best version of myself that I can be’.

“So there’s definitely an element of that public body image, but actually it’s more so rooted in just me and my life at home,” he added.