Ryan Tubridy has admitted that his dislike of being in the media spotlight was one of the main reasons he decided to step down from hosting The Late Late Show.
Tubridy, who turns 50 on 28 May, announced last March that he would be quitting the show after 14 years and will present his final episode on 26 May.
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Speaking to the new edition of the RTÉ Guide, he said, "I think it was a grown-up decision to make and I don't think I’ve always been a great grown-up.
"My life was lived in the glare of the limelight for 20 years, so yes that was one of the reasons. I wanted to turn that light down. I just think I had my fill of being public property at that level.
"I’ve always accepted that fame was part and parcel of the job, but you hit an age and think: `That was lovely, but I don’t want to play that game anymore.’ Last summer, the seeds were sown in my head, but it got short circuited in the last few months."
Speaking about the negative press coverage he has received over the years, Tubridy said, "I tend not to read the mean stuff and I listen to the good people I meet on the street and those who watch the show week in and week out because they are more important to me.
"Now, I know the media is just doing a job, and they have done a job on me for long enough. To paraphrase an awful creature, `They won’t have Richard Nixon to kick around anymore, and it will be someone else’s turn.’"
Asked how he will readjust after leaving the Late Late after 14 years, he said, "I think it will be a difficult transition, strange too.
"I’ve spoken to athletes who have hung up their jerseys and I’m thinking that’s me now in terms of the psychological and emotional transition from being Mr Friday Night to `Who is that guy?’ That will be interesting."
He added, "I’m hoping that my ego has been sated in terms of the attention you get from the show. That’s a big thing, to be frank with you. The buzz you get from an audience and being known and all that.
"I hope I don’t miss that because at this age, that feels both pleasant as well as terribly superficial. But I think it is time to concentrate on the love of people closer to me than the attention of those I don’t know."
In the new interview, Tubridy praised his daughters, Ella and Julia, for making sacrifices since he took over the Late Late and described his mother Catherine as his "biggest fan," adding that she is possibly relieved at his decision to step down.
"My mother said, after I got the job, that every show for her was like watching a boxer going to a ring, because afterwards she’d buy the newspaper and go, `What is this?’ I’d say to her, `Don’t be buying that' and that `I’ll know when it was time to hang up the gloves.’ And here we are."
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