BBC reports that the 48-year-old spoke publicly for the first time about his adoption at an early age on Wednesday evening, at The Irish Times Winter Nights festival.
Ó Briain noted at the online event how he’d enjoyed a happy childhood in Bray with his “supportive” parents.
But after being inspired by the film Philomena he tracked down his biological mother, who told him his adoption “was built on shame”.
“I talked to my birth mother about it today, and I said, ‘Look, did you want this?’ and she said, ‘There was no choice in this’,” said the Mock the Week host.
“The whole thing was built on shame and expediency and a feeling of, just get this done.”
Read the full BBC article here: