A young woman with curly dark hair wearing a green school blazer and hoop earrings stands among other students in school uniforms, looking unimpressed.
Derry Girls
Gossip

Derry Girls Star Jamie-Lee O’donnell Says Therapy Led Her to Go “No Contact With My Entire Family.” She Trusted “The Universe,” Sold Everything, and Started Over in a City Where She Knew No One

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“I finally did some therapy, which I know is pretty big deal for an Irish woman, but it was great” — Jamie-Lee O’Donnell

Jamie-Lee O’Donnell, 39, who played Michelle Mallon on Derry Girls, sold her house in Ireland in 2025 and moved to Barcelona, a city where she knew no one, to start over.

Jamie-Lee O'Donnell at the Derry Girls Series 3 launch event at the Omniplex Cinema in Derry/Londonderry
Jamie-Lee O’Donnell, who plays Michelle in Derry Girls, at the Omniplex Cinema in Derry/Londonderry for the Channel 4 series’ final season launch event in April 2022. Photo by Charles McQuillan / Getty Images.
Jamie-Lee O'Donnell in a black velvet and sheer dress at an indoor rooftop event with guests seated in the background.
Dressed in a black velvet slip dress with sheer sleeves, O’Donnell poses at the art’otel London Battersea Power Station opening event on April 26, 2023. Photo by Dave Benett / Getty Images.

She told the Dish from Waitrose podcast, hosted by Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett, that she “trusted the universe” when she decided on a whim to make the move. The decision followed a stretch of what she called intense and really tough therapy, which she’d wrapped up back home before leaving.

A curly-haired girl in a green school uniform with hoop earrings and a rainbow badge stands with hands behind her back among other students in a hall.
Michelle stands defiant among a crowd of uniformed classmates in a school assembly scene from Derry Girls, large hoop earrings and a rainbow badge visible on her blazer. Credit: Derry Girls.

Cutting off her family came out of that work. “The more I’ve sort of talked about it and been honest about it, I’m seeing it’s, unfortunately, not the most unusual thing for adults,” she said.

She’d spoken about therapy before, telling hotpress.com in December that she was “trying to unpack a lot of stuff from my childhood” after Derry Girls made her famous and things “just weren’t clicking.” Next up is the lead role in the BBC One comedy Hopley Hall.

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About the author

Nadia Santiago

Nadia Santiago is a writer who lives between the clouds and the coastline, and writes about all the things your heart knows but your mouth can never quite say.