Michelle Rocca
Encyclopedia
Socialite
A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....
who initially achieved a degree of fame as the wife of footballer John Devine
John Devine
John Anthony Devine is an Irish former footballer and Manager/Coach.Born in Dublin, Devine joined London club Arsenal in November 1974 as an apprentice. Part of a large young Irish contingent at Arsenal , Devine turned professional in 1976...
before becoming for a lengthy period the girlfriend, and later, the wife of Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
. She is the daughter of Paddy and Maureen Rocca and granddaughter of Italian immigrant Egidio Rocca who founded the successful business, Rocca Tiles.
Career
Rocca grew up in a large family with two brothers and three sisters. Rocca attended University College DublinUniversity College Dublin
University College Dublin ) - formally known as University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's largest, and Ireland's second largest, university, with over 1,300 faculty and 17,000 students...
studying Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
and Roman Civilization
History of Rome
The history of Rome spans 2,800 years of the existence of a city that grew from a small Italian village in the 9th century BC into the centre of a vast civilisation that dominated the Mediterranean region for centuries. Its political power was eventually replaced by that of peoples of mostly...
and Italian and French Archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
.
Rocca is fluent in several languages and has earned an MA
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
degree from Trinity College
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
in Dublin and also a degree from Bristol University in Bristol, England.
She entered beauty contests, winning the Miss Ireland
Miss Ireland
Miss Ireland is a national beauty pageant held in the Republic of Ireland each year, to celebrate the country's most beautiful women. Winners of the contest represent Ireland at the Miss World pageant. Other winners, including Roberta Brown and Siobhan McClaffey have also been delegates at rival...
title in 1980 and was Number 3 finalist in the 1981 Miss International
Miss International 1981
Miss International 1981, the 21st Miss International pageant, was won by Jenny Annette Derek of Australia. It took place on 6 September 1981 in Kobe, Japan.-Final Results:- Special Awards :*Best National Costume: - Dominique Van Eeckhoudt...
pageant.
Rocca worked in the family business and also modelled until she joined RTE
RTE
RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...
in 1987 as a television presenter. In 1988, she co-hosted the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
with Pat Kenny
Pat Kenny
Patrick "Pat" Kenny is an Irish broadcaster and former disc jockey and continuity announcer. He is employed by Raidió Teilifís Éireann and is their highest paid presenter. He presents Today with Pat Kenny on RTÉ Radio 1 each weekday morning between 10:00 and midday...
in front of a worldwide audience of 600 million viewers. Despite such a high profile gig as presenter of Eurovision, it didn't lead to a bigger career on television and she continued to juggle her modelling career with occasional presenting jobs, such as the 1990 Miss World contest
Miss World 1990
Miss World 1990, the 40th Miss World pageant was held on 8 November 1990 in the London Palladium, London, United Kingdom. The winner was Gina Tolleson, representing the United States.-Placements:-Special awards:-Continental Queens:...
from London.
Personal life
She began dating ArsenalArsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
and Irish
Republic of Ireland national football team
The Republic of Ireland national football team represents Ireland in association football. It is run by the Football Association of Ireland and currently plays home fixtures at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, which opened in May 2010....
International footballer John Devine when she was 17 and they were married in 1981 and lived in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The couple had two daughters, Danielle and Natasha, but were separated in 1987 and she returned to Dublin with the children. They divorced in 1990.
She was engaged to Cathal Ryan, son of multi-millionaire Tony Ryan
Tony Ryan
Thomas Anthony "Tony" Ryan was an Irish multi-millionaire, philanthropist and businessman.He was a founder of Guinness Peat Aviation as well as co-founder of Ryanair with Christy Ryan and Liam Lonergan...
who co-founded Ryanair
Ryanair
Ryanair is an Irish low-cost airline. Its head office is at Dublin Airport and its primary operational bases at Dublin Airport and London Stansted Airport....
and owned Guinness Peat Aviation
Guinness Peat Aviation
Guinness Peat Aviation was a Commercial Aircraft Sales and Leasing company set up in 1975 by Aer Lingus, the Guinness Peat Group and Tony Ryan, then an Aer Lingus executive.-History:...
. After living together for two years, they separated when Michelle was expecting their child, Claudia, who was born in April 1991.
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
in the summer of 1992, and they often featured in the Dublin gossip
Gossip
Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others, It is one of the oldest and most common means of sharing facts and views, but also has a reputation for the introduction of errors and variations into the information transmitted...
columns, an unusual event for the reclusive Morrison. Rocca was the first woman to appear on one of his album covers—1995's Days Like This—since his then-wife Janet "Planet" Minto featured on the cover of Tupelo Honey
Tupelo Honey
Tupelo Honey is the fifth solo album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was released in October 1971 by Warner Bros. Records. Morrison had written all of the songs on the album in Woodstock, New York before his move to Marin County, California, except for "You're My Woman", which...
in 1971. She also appeared on the cover of the October 1994 tribute album, No Prima Donna: The Songs of Van Morrison
No Prima Donna: The Songs of Van Morrison
No Prima Donna: The Songs of Van Morrison released in October 1994 is the first tribute album for the songs of singer-songwriter Van Morrison. The album was produced by Van Morrison and his friend for many years, Phil Coulter. Morrison's longtime girlfriend, Michelle Rocca was the model on the...
.
They reunited after a broken engagement in 1996, and Morrison daily attended the court proceedings in 1997 when Rocca sued her former lover, Cathal Ryan, for assaulting her and breaking her nose in 1992. In Johnny Rogan
Johnny Rogan
Johnny Rogan is an author of Irish descent best known for his books about music and popular culture. He has written influential biographies of The Byrds, The Smiths and Van Morrison. His writing is characterised by "an almost neurotic attention to detail", epic length and a sometimes hostile...
's words, "It was one of the most publicized cases in recent Irish history". The jury awarded Rocca the sum of £7,500. Morrison and Rocca who have two children together, shunned publicity and are seldom seen in public together.
Upon Cathal Ryan's death in December 2007 of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
, Rocca was quoted as saying, "He was a wonderful father to Claudia; he and I had a very good relationship over the past number of years and he will be greatly missed by all of us." She also has a granddaughter, born in 2002.
On 20 January 2009 her brother, Patrick Rocca, an Irish real estate mogul, committed suicide after his real estate empire collapsed in the global credit crisis.