Where The Wild Roses Grow

2017

Jimmy Kelly (Kelly Family) & Georgia Rose Wilde

The wild haired popstar and his gorgeous ballerina girlfriend were the ultimate, ethereally beautiful showbiz fairy tale we all wanted to believe in back in the 90s. Whether you loved or hated his band, everybody was obsessed with this couple. So it only makes sense for them to top this list. They truly were the best 90s showbiz couple we ever knew. They had everything going for them. She was a ballet princess that voluntarily put her career on hold to be with her boyfriend. He was a successful popstar and the wild one in the band. They had the romantic controversy of their age difference (25 year old Jimmy lost his heart to Georgia when she was only 17) and the ultimate plottwist as everyone thought she was actually dating Jimmy's younger brother and teen favourite Paddy Kelly for the longest time.

Jimmy and Georgia were the embodiment of true love for many, but it were their own demons that eventually pushed them towards a dramatic break-up in 2002. Even to this day rumour has it that they never fully recovered from it and neither of them ever spoke about the reasons. So with the upcoming Kelly family reunion, could there some something in it for our favourite long lost love birds too?

Favourite love quote: 'For all of my darkness, she has light. She is what keeps me grounded and what drives me up the walls. She is unpredictable and incredibly patient when I don't deserve it. She finds beauty in the strangest things and she makes me go insane at times. She makes me feel everything I never thought love could be like.' (Jimmy on Georgia in a 1997 television interview, just after confirming their relationship for the first time.)

She had read this article about 90s 'showbiz' couples before. Someone had unexpectedly dropped the magazine on her vanity at the ballet earlier that week. It had caused quite the stir among her colleagues because most of them had no idea about her past. She had preferred to keep it that way, but apparently the media once again decided differently for her. So the article itself wasn't really what startled her this time. It was the note that came along with this particular clipping that made her forget how to breathe. That made it impossible for her to think straight.

Hey Rosie, still as unforgettable as you used to be. And all those years I was thinking that it was just me... Rumour has it that we are currently recording the reunion album in this studio in Dublin. So since it's the year of unexpected events, I thought that maybe it was time to create another.

yours, Jimmy x

The studio address was provided, as well as a tight recording schedule so that she wouldn't have to guess when he would be there. She knew exactly when he would be. He left no room for excuses.

The handwriting was scribbly but steady and confident. It was insane how easy she had recognised it. Even before she went on to read the words, she had known who sent it. She had seen hundreds of lyrics, scripts and poems coming from the hand that wrote that simple but life-changing note. The tone of it and the attachment of that particular article made it seem like she had only seen him yesterday. She had thought about reaching out herself a hundred million times, but it never truly seemed like an option. Everything had just fallen apart so quickly. Everybody had been so far off from reality and was completely swallowed by their own demons. Their split was destructive but certainly definite. That was the only thing that had been clear to her back then. It was over. And would always continue to be.

Besides, only more pain could come from starting to dig in the past after all those years. She wouldn't want to put herself through losing her best friend, her entire world, a second time. Because in all honesty, she had never fully learned how to recover from the first time.