Ali Hewson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alison Hewson
|
|
|---|---|
Hewson in 2014
|
|
| Born |
Alison Stewart
23 March 1961 |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Education | Degree in social science, politics and sociology |
| Alma mater | University College Dublin |
| Occupation | Activist and businesswoman |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | 4, including Eve and Elijah |
Alison Hewson (born Alison Stewart on March 23, 1961) is an Irish activist and businesswoman. She is married to the famous singer Bono, who is part of the rock band U2.
Alison grew up in Raheny, Ireland. She met Bono when she was 12 years old at Mount Temple Comprehensive School. They got married in 1982. She later earned a degree in politics and sociology from University College Dublin in 1989. Alison and Bono have four children, including Eve Hewson and Elijah Hewson. They live in homes in Ireland, France, and the United States. Alison has inspired some of U2's songs, like the well-known "Sweetest Thing".
Alison became involved in fighting against nuclear power in the 1990s. She helped with a documentary called Black Wind, White Land in 1993. This film showed the long-lasting effects of the Chernobyl disaster. She has worked closely with activist Adi Roche and has been a supporter of Chernobyl Children's Project International since 1994. She has also gone on many aid trips to areas in Belarus that have high radiation levels. Alison has also spoken out against Sellafield, a nuclear facility in England. In 2002, she helped send over a million postcards to leaders, asking for the site to be closed.
Contents
Early Life
Alison Stewart was born on March 23, 1961. Her parents were Terry and Joy Stewart. She has an older brother named Ian. Her family lived in Raheny, a suburb in Dublin, Ireland. They raised their children as Protestants. Alison's father was an electrical worker who loved to ask questions. Her mother was a housewife who hoped Alison would become a secretary.
Alison went to Mount Temple Comprehensive School. When she was 12, she met Paul Hewson, who was a year older. He was interested in her right away, but she thought he was a bit silly at first. In 1974, Bono's mother suddenly passed away. This made him very sad and caused problems with his family. Soon after, Alison started taking care of Bono. She would clean his clothes, walk to school with him, and cook for him.
In 1976, Bono met the other members of what would become U2. The band members started using nicknames, and Paul became known as Bono. Around the same time, he and Ali, as she was called, started dating and became a steady couple. It took Alison a while to enjoy U2's music because she preferred her father's Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole records.
At one point, Alison and Bono broke up, but they soon got back together. Their relationship became more serious as she supported him in his music career. By 1979, they were talking about getting married once his career was stable. Before U2 became famous, Alison worked at a car insurance company and in her father's electrical business.
Marriage and Family
Alison married Bono on August 31, 1982. Their wedding was held at All Saints Church, Raheny. Because U2 owed money to their record label, Island Records, Alison and Bono could not afford a honeymoon. However, the founder of Island Records, Chris Blackwell, let them use his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica. After returning to Ireland, they moved into a small house in Howth. They even shared it with the other members of U2.
As U2 became very popular with their War Tour in 1983, Alison found it hard to get used to the new changes. She had wanted to become a nurse, but the demanding school schedule would not work with her husband's busy life. Instead, she decided to study social sciences. This would help her understand how to make a difference in people's lives, similar to what nursing would have allowed. Bono himself said that their marriage faced challenges in 1986 because of the time he spent recording The Joshua Tree album. These difficulties continued during the Joshua Tree Tour in 1987.
Alison earned her degree in social science, politics, and sociology from University College Dublin in 1989. She was 28 years old and gave birth to their first daughter, Jordan, just two weeks before her final exams. She had plans to get a master's degree, but she put them on hold after their second daughter, Memphis Eve, was born in 1991. Their two sons, Elijah Bob Patricus Guggi Q and John Abraham, were born in 1999 and 2001. It was tough for Alison to be like a single parent when U2 was on tour. But she found that Bono was helpful even when he was far away.
Activism and Helping Others
Early Humanitarian Work
In late 1985, after U2 performed at Live Aid, Bono and Alison spent five weeks helping people in Ajibar, Ethiopia. This was during the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. Alison saw children who had nothing and were at risk of dying. Even so, she felt they seemed more spiritually alive than people in Ireland who had many things but seemed spoiled. In 1986, the couple visited areas in Nicaragua and El Salvador that were experiencing conflict.
Fighting Nuclear Dangers
In 1992, Alison joined Greenpeace protests against the Sellafield plant in England. This plant processes nuclear waste and is located across the Irish Sea from Ireland. She was especially against a new part of the plant being opened. She was on Greenpeace's boat, the MV Solo, when the band members landed on the beach at the plant in small boats. Alison said she was not responsible for that specific protest.
This involvement led her to become interested in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986. After activist Adi Roche asked for her help, Alison traveled to high-radiation areas in Belarus for three weeks. She narrated part of Black Wind, White Land, a 1993 Irish documentary. This film, shown on RTÉ, highlighted the struggles of people affected by the Chernobyl disaster.
Since 1994, Alison has been a supporter of Chernobyl Children's Project International (now called Chernobyl Children International). This organization, started by Adi Roche, helps children, families, and communities still affected by Chernobyl. Over the years, Alison has made at least ten trips to Belarus and other nearby countries, even though it could be risky for her health. She has organized aid convoys and even driven ambulances filled with medical supplies herself. Once, she had to quickly leave when a fire spread in a village near Chernobyl. Alison has made sure her own children met children from Chernobyl who had birth defects and other illnesses. She wanted her children to appreciate the world more and be thankful for what they have. She has said that raising money for those affected is very hard because many people think the problems of Chernobyl are over.
Alison knew that some people might criticize her for being a wealthy person helping others. But she said, "People who criticize these women are probably giving in to cynicism, and I think if you get cynical about life, you lose the real meaning of it." In 2007, she joined the board of directors for Chernobyl Children's Project International. This role allowed her to help make decisions for the organization. In 2009, she rappelled down the 17-story Elysian Tower in Cork to raise money for the organization.
She returned to the Sellafield issue in 2002. She pointed out that even though Ireland had no nuclear power plants, Belarus was the most affected region by Chernobyl, even though Chernobyl was not in Belarus. She said this was "exactly what could happen in Ireland if there was an explosion at Sellafield." She also worried about the small amounts of radiation constantly released from Sellafield. She wondered "how safe it was for [children] to play on the beach or to swim in the sea or even to eat fish." After the 11 September 2001 attacks, she also saw the plant as a possible target for terrorists.
In April 2002, Alison was one of the leaders of a campaign that sent over a million postcards. These postcards demanded that the Sellafield facility be shut down. They were sent to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Prince Charles, and the head of British Nuclear Fuels Limited. Alison personally delivered a giant postcard to Blair at 10 Downing Street. The Shut Sellafield Campaign had its postcards in supermarkets, and Alison publicly challenged stores that refused to carry them. Many celebrities supported the campaign, and Alison appeared in many newspapers and on the radio. This was the first time Alison had been so much in the public eye, after two decades of trying to keep her life private. Her continued activism also meant she couldn't always be with her children.
Political Speculation
As the postcard campaign was at its peak, newspapers suggested that the Labour Party wanted Alison to run for the Irish presidential election in 2004. Alison said she had not been asked. She also said it was "not a serious proposition" and that she wasn't sure she was qualified. She also mentioned that she had four small children to raise first. She jokingly added that she couldn't imagine Bono agreeing to live in a smaller house. The idea of her running for Irish president came up again in 2008 for the 2011 election. Alison again said no, explaining that she didn't speak the Irish language well enough. She humorously added that she couldn't see her husband wanting to walk behind her at events. Despite this speculation, Alison generally avoids making political comments in the media.
Children's Museum
Alison has long supported the idea of a children's museum for Ireland. She was inspired after her daughters had a great time at the Dallas Children's Museum in the mid-1990s. In 2003, plans were announced to build a science center called Exploration Station in Dublin. This center was to be owned by the Irish Children's Museum charitable trust, which Alison helped establish in 2006. Alison said, "Seeing as we're nearly the last European country in on it, we can learn from children's museums already up and running and expand on them." However, the project faced many challenges, including rising costs and a financial crisis, which stopped the plans.
Global Campaigns
In 2015, Alison signed an open letter from the ONE Campaign. The letter asked leaders like Angela Merkel to focus on women's issues when setting goals for global development funding.
Business Career
EDUN Fashion Label
In 2005, Alison, Bono, and designer Rogan Gregory started a fashion brand called EDUN. Their goal was to bring positive change to Africa through fair trade, rather than just giving direct aid. They also wanted to set an ethical example in the fashion industry, which they felt had often used child labour. Alison said they wanted "to show that you can make a for-profit business where everybody in the chain is treated well." Alison had not been very interested in fashion before starting this company.
Alison stressed that Edun needed to make a profit to be successful, but it faced many challenges. She later admitted that she and Bono were new to the fashion business. Edun had problems with the quality of its products and getting them delivered on time from their African suppliers. Many stores that first carried the line stopped selling it. The company lost a lot of money in its early years.
After Alison and Bono invested $20 million of their own money, they sold 49% of the company to a French company called LVMH in 2009. The relaunched Edun brought in a new chief designer. By 2010, much of the manufacturing for their new fashion line was done in China, which caused some negative reactions. However, simpler clothes were still made in Africa. Alison said that business needs made this necessary, but she hoped more work could be done in Africa in the future. Alison spent a lot of time on Edun. She said in 2011, "I think [the fashion industry] is the toughest business there is," and that despite the problems, "you just keep going."
Alison and U2
Alison has inspired many of Bono's songs for U2. One of the earliest was "Another Time, Another Place" from their first album, Boy, in 1980. She helped Bono when he was having trouble writing lyrics for the 1983 War album, especially for "Sunday Bloody Sunday". She also inspired the personal themes in "New Year's Day" from the same album. That album and the tour brought financial success to the band. Bono and Alison moved into a unique three-level home in Bray. The U2 song "Promenade" from 1984 reflects this home and Bono's feelings for her.
The U2 song "Sweetest Thing" was written for Alison as a gift. Bono forgot her birthday while he was recording with the band for The Joshua Tree album. The song was first released in 1987. It was later re-recorded and released as a single in 1998. Alison agreed to appear in the music video for "Sweetest Thing" as long as all the money from it went to Chernobyl Children's Project.
Bono wrote the lyrics for the 1988 song "All I Want Is You" about the idea of commitment. He later said it was about a younger version of himself and his relationship with Alison. He added that he was naturally a wanderer, not a family man, and that "The only reason I'm here is because I met someone so extraordinary that I just couldn't let that go."
Alison and her family live in Killiney, in south County Dublin, in a large house with grounds overlooking the Irish Sea. They have expanded their home by buying the property next door. Famous people like Bill Clinton and Salman Rushdie have stayed at their guest house there. Alison and Bono also own a villa in Èze, in the south of France, with U2 bandmate The Edge. There, Bono and Alison often spend time with other famous people. Alison is especially friendly with several supermodels, which helps her when she organizes charity events. Bono and Alison also own a penthouse apartment in Manhattan, New York, which they bought from Steve Jobs. By 2011, their wealth was estimated at €572 million.
While her husband has received mixed opinions, Alison is generally seen in a positive light. People describe her as down-to-earth. She sees herself as "not a typical rock star wife." Their marriage is considered one of the longest and most stable in the entertainment world. She does have to help her husband adjust to home life after he finishes a tour. After U2's long 1992–1993 Zoo TV Tour, which was full of intense experiences, the couple started having Sunday lunches at home. This helped them create a sense of normal, regular activities. The family also regularly attended Sunday services in Killiney, keeping their Christian faith strong. Alison has said, "I've no desire to be a star," because she has seen the intense public attention on her husband and on activist Adi Roche. While she dislikes being called "Bono's wife," she has said, "I really don't have a big problem with my own identity, because I am a very private person, so I've always let Bono take the brunt of anything that was coming along. He is happy to do that; I am quite happy to make my own way around things."
Awards and Honours
The 2001 song "Time Is Ticking Out" by The Cranberries was inspired by Alison's work with Chernobyl Children's Project. In 2002, Alison received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the National University of Ireland. This was for her work on environmental issues, especially with the Chernobyl Children's Project. Bono and Alison Hewson received a special award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2007. This was for their humanitarian work through the Edun clothing line. Alison was also voted "Celebrity Other Half" in a 2008 poll by entertainment.ie.
Images for kids
-
Hewson in 2014
See Also
In Spanish: Alison Hewson para niños
