Sienna Graham, daughter of Boyzone singer Mikey Graham, has responded after hearing nasty comments aimed at her father.
The 25-year-old spoke of her pride for her famous father, saying saying ‘no one knows the extent’ of what her father has been through’.
Sienna’s comments come after speculation regarding Mikey’s health. During Boyzone’s farewell tour at the weekend, the singer sat on a stool and sang just four songs.
In her first ever interview, the Dubliner praised her father for having the courage to rejoin Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy and Shane Lynch on stage in the Emirates Stadium in London last Friday and Saturday night for their One For The Road tour.
Speaking exclusively to EVOKE, Sienna said that ‘no one will ever know the extent’ it took her dad to come back on stage.
Sienna told us: ‘No one will ever know the extent that it took my dad to get to this point and get onto this stage and perform to many people in that way, so as his daughter, as I can say is that I am incredibly proud of him and that is the bottom line.
‘I think with the (Sky) documentary and everything – I said this before – I think coming into the shows, everyone has come in with so much awareness of what everyone has been through over the years and I almost feel like that because of that awareness, it also enhances the pride that we all feel.
‘This kind of shows that you can go through struggles and come out the other end and that there is so much joy to be had within this world and starting fresh.
‘I’m just incredibly proud, that’s all I have to say. Obviously when you see comments and stuff…. like anyone, it is my dad at the end of the day and I am his daughter. I am so incredibly proud of everything he has achieved and that is the bottom line.
Sienna also recalled her final conversation she had with her dad before he nervously took to the stage.
‘My dad is thankfully a very secure person so we would just have chats beforehand. I said to him that I think this is going to be a really special experience for you and I think this is going to be something that really lives on in your memory and I am so glad you’re taking part.
‘That would be our stance on that.’
Sienna said watching her dad on stage at the weekend was ‘so special’.
‘It was such a special experience. I’ve not seen my dad on stage since I was younger so seeing him back on stage again being so comfortable and so confident was really emotional.
‘There were a few songs where I really welled up because I was so proud to see him in that environment again.
‘The energy was so high and the audience was on board and so invested. It was such a good environment. It was a really good weekend.’
The 20-year-old is busy carving out her own successful career. A former student of Bow Street Academy, Sienna has worked on several short films and documentaries and is writing her own music, with the hope of following in her father’s successful footsteps one day.
‘I have always had a natural performing flair. I was always singing Boyzone songs,’ she said laughing.
‘Acting was always my first love. I spoke to Jay Duffy (Keith Duffy’s son) and he recommended Bow Street Academy, so I was there all the way up until 19.
‘I started getting into short film festivals and writing my own roles and that got me into short films and documentaries. Then I started studying TV production.
‘I’ve always sang. I have always been a performer. It was only something I considered as a career probably in the last two years. Singing has always been a huge part of my life. It’s always been an outlet.
‘Screen acting is what I want to go into but I always have an appreciation of the stage. I would never say no to musicals. I’m a huge musical fan.’
Sienna said she is ‘grateful’ her dad made sure she was sheltered from media scrutiny and celebrity life growing up.
‘I was very lucky that I was kept very separated from it all, I was really sheltered from everything. As I got older and I reflected, I was able to appreciate that.
‘Then when you get older, you gain an awareness of it all. I remember I was about seven and I had a kid coming up to me in the playground, saying “my parents say your daddy is in a band”.
‘That’s when you kind of go “what?” When you grow up with it, like my mum is a professional dancer as well, I had always grown up in the environment of performers and creativity so it is not a sense of like that is the world that you grow up in.
‘It was only when people said it to to me in primary school about what my family does, not everyone’s daddy gets on stage each night and sings songs,’ she said laughing.
‘I was seven and I turned around to him – and he remembers this as well – I said ‘Daddy, is Boyzone famous then?’ he was like “yeah, no you could definitely say we’re famous”.
‘Like he’s just your dad, you don’t see the fame or the celebrity side of things at all. Even though we grow up seeing it all, when we came home, we came home and that never affected my every day life. It was always a thing I transitioned in and out of.
‘I was always well protected thank god,’ she said.
But Sienna said she was raised with a strong work ethic and when she’s not auditioning, she works as a receptionist.
‘I’m a receptionist so I’m constantly on the phone and have never been afraid to talk to people. Doing acting and growing up in a performing environment has definitely made me the person I am today,’ she added.
