Glenda Gilson (born 3 March 1981) is an Irish former

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

and television presenter.

Career

Beauty

Gilson represented Ireland in the

Miss Hawaiian Tropic Hawaiian Tropic is an American brand of suntan lotion that was founded by Ron Rice in 1969. Hawaiian Tropic became the largest private manufacturer of sun care products in the United States. The company was acquired by Playtex Products, Inc. in ...

in 2002 in

Oahu Oahu (, , sometimes written Oahu) is the third-largest and most populated island of the Hawaiian Islands and of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. The island of Oahu and the uninhabited Northwe ...

and went on to win the title for Europe. Her success secured widespread international exposure, as she appeared in the pages of ''Cosmopolitan'', ''Marie Claire'' and ''Company'' and Ireland's own ''VIP''.

Presenting

In 2006, Gilson embarked on a presenting career, appearing as the face of Irish music channel

Bubble Hits Bubble Hits was an Irish digital television music channel owned by Creative Sounds. It broadcast two channels, one for Ireland, and a Pan-European feed which covered the United Kingdom, Hungary, Romania, Poland and Germany. On 13 February 2009, B ...

hosting the news and entertainment show ''Glenda's Showbiz Gossip''. She presented

Xposé ''Xposé'' is an entertainment, fashion and beauty programme that aired on Irish television from 2007 to 2019. It was broadcast every Friday at 18:00 on Virgin Media One. It ran for a 3-day week at 20:00 on Virgin Media Two (previously known ...

from 2008 until its cancellation in 2019. In March 2008, she appeared as a

contestant Contestant may refer to: * Participant in a contest CONTEST is the United Kingdom's counter-terrorism strategy, first developed by Sir David Omand and the Home Office in early 2003 as the immediate response to 9/11, and a revised version w ...

on the

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

, ''

Celebrity Bainisteoir ''Celebrity Bainisteoir'' was a prime-time reality programme created by Fiona Looney and first broadcast in 2008 by RTÉ. It involved a number of celebrities competing against each other as a Gaelic football team coach. The title derived from ...

''. In 2012, Gilson appeared as a contestant on the

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...

reality show, ''Celebrity Salon.'' In December 2017, Gilson was announced as the host of

Ireland's Got Talent '' Ireland's Got Talent'' is the Irish version of the international ''Got Talent'' franchise. The series launched on 3 February 2018 on Virgin Media One (formerly known as "TV3") and was hosted by Lucy Kennedy, accompanied by a sister show ent ...

companion-series ''Ireland's Got Mór Talent'' alongside social media star, James Kavanagh. Gilson and Kavanagh returned for a second and final series in 2019. In 2020, Gilson participated in the fourth season of the Irish edition of ''Dancing with the Stars''. Gilson and her professional partner,

Robert Rowiński Robert Rowiński (born 19 May 1984) is a Polish dancer, choreographer and model. Rowiński is a professional dancer on the Polish and Irish versions of ''Dancing with the Stars''. Early life Rowiński is the son of Bożena and Bogdan Rowińsk ...

, were eliminated on 26 January 2020.

Legal difficulties

Gilson and her brother Damien could face jail after consistently refusing to comply with court orders in relation to the liquidation of their car company. Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan said in May 2011 that Ms Gilson and her brother are “not compliant” with the rules and described the situation as “extremely serious” and “the motion for attachment and committal still stands.” In 2012 Gilson was revealed to be a tax defaulter. On 14 September 2012 she was named on the Revenue list of tax defaulters as having been required to pay €73,000 including interest and penalties. In April 2015 she was in the Irish High Court to block attempts, by the liquidator of a company where she was a non-executive director, to impose certain restriction on her from acting as a company director for a period of five years.

Personal life

Gilson is a niece of former

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil ( ; ; meaning "Soldiers of Destiny" or "Warriors of Fál"), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party (), is a centre to centre-right political party in Ireland. Founded as a republican party in 1926 by Éamon de ...

politician

Liam Lawlor Liam Lawlor (19 October 1944 – 22 October 2005) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He resigned from the Fianna Fáil in 2000 following a finding by a party standards committee that he had failed to co-operate with its investigation into pl ...

, who died in a car accident in Russia in October 2005. She was at one stage involved in a high-profile relationship with then-Irish rugby captain

Brian O'Driscoll Brian Gerard O'Driscoll (born 21 January 1979) is an Irish former professional rugby union player. He played at outside Centre (rugby union), centre for the Irish provincial team Leinster Rugby, Leinster and for Ireland national rugby union te ...

. In August 2014, Gilson married Dublin businessman Rob MacNaughton at St Senan's Church in

Kilrush Kilrush () is a coastal town in County Clare, Ireland. It is also the name of a civil parish and an ecclesiastical parish in Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe. It is located near the mouth of the River Shannon in the south-west of the county. ...

, County Clare. They have two sons.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilson, Glenda 1981 births 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people Living people Irish female models Irish infotainers People from Clondalkin People from Tallaght Broadcasters from County Dublin Models from Dublin (city)