Maura Higgins’ relationship with dad explained with real reason she has no contact with father

Though Maura Higgins spoke openly about her relationship with mum Sharon, I’m A Celeb viewers learned nothing of her issues with her dad before she was kicked from the jungle on Thursday.

At this point I could recite Maura Higgins’ relationship history from memory, but if you asked me literally anything about her family life I would be left stumped. That changed slightly with her stint in 2024’s I’m A Celeb, with Sharon revealing that sometimes her daughter shares “too much information” about her love life with her.

But we as humans are a combination of both parents, so what’s the deal with Maura’s father? Let’s find out.

Maura Higgins hasn’t spoken to her dad in a few years

Much like her fellow campmate Danny Jones, who has had his own daddy issues to contend with, Maura Higgins was left traumatised in her youth when her mother Sharon and father Seamus got divorced. It was incredibly messy by all accounts, with Maura telling Married At First Sight’s relationship expert Paul C Brunson that she thought her mum was dead at one point.

“She had a nervous breakdown, she collapsed in the kitchen in front of all of us and only for my older sister, she was a lot older at the time, she knew to like put her on her side and call the ambulance,” she said. “And I just remember thinking she’s dead. I did not move. I did not help my mum. I was young, I was sat crying, like screaming crying. I didn’t know what was going on.”

Though Maura and her dad continued to have a bond for a while, a particularly nasty phone conversation was the final nail in the coffin of their relationship.

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“It’s kind of weird. We haven’t spoken in a few years now. My dad spoke to me not very nice. I’m not saying it was just a bit of an argument,” she explained, noting that she “physically couldn’t breathe” after the conversation.

She’s also “never forgiven” Seamus for not supporting her after her best friend Andrew Rowan died at the age of 26 in a nasty motorbike accident in 2017.

As of December 2024, they are still estranged.

Family insiders shared his side of the story

After Maura’s podcast interview and with the announcement that she was joining I’m A Celeb 2024, family insiders spoke to MailOnline about their fraught relationship.

They explained: “Poor Seamus hasn’t taken it all well, he’s really upset and confused by what Maura’s been saying. He just doesn’t understand where it’s come from, she will always be his daughter of course but he doesn’t know what she is talking about and it’s hit him really hard.

“At the end of the day he is a family man and he loves his son and daughters and if Maura has a problem then he would like to sort it out but he just can’t fathom where all this has come from.”

Allegedly, no one in the family really knows what the feud is about, including Seamus himself who is busy working all over Europe as a lorry driver.

“But he does find it hard not speaking with his daughter, as anyone in his situation would. I really hope he and Maura reunite soon,” the source added.

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Featured image credit: Facebook/Paul C Brunson