U2 star Adam Clayton and wife Mariana announce shock divorce

A spokesperson for the couple yesterday confirmed the world-renowned U2 bass guitarist and lawyer Mariana Teixeira de Carvalho have parted ways on good terms and are “amicably divorced”.

Adam and Mariana, who is originally from Brazil, are loving and devoted parents to daughter Alba, born in July 2017.

Both of them will continue to be involved in their daughter’s life as she grows up.

Barry Egan shows off stunning U2 concert at new Las Vegas Sphere venue

In a brief statement revealing Adam and Mariana’s divorce, their spokesperson told the Sunday World: “After more than 10 years of marriage, musician Adam Clayton and lawyer Mariana Teixeira de Carvalho have amicably divorced.

“Both will continue to be fully involved in the care of their daughter and they request that the family’s privacy be respected.”

The glamorous couple wed quietly in September 2013 at a Dublin registry office after dating for four years.

A few days later they celebrated their marriage with 150 family and friends — including U2 bandmates Bono, The Edge and Larry, — in a 14th-century French chateau in Mandelieu-la-Napoule close to Cannes. The three-day celebration also included a party on Bono’s yacht, Cyan.

In July 2017 they placed a personal ad in The Irish Times announcing the birth of their daughter. “Adam and Mariana Clayton are delighted to announce the birth of their beautiful baby girl Alba,” they wrote in the announcement.

The U2 star is also the father to a son, who was born in 2010, from a previous relationship.

Adam was once engaged to supermodel Naomi Campbell for a few brief months in 1994. The couple appeared together on The Late Late Show, where they announced their engagement. But their relationship ended that same year.

In 2006, he was again engaged to Suzie Smith, a former assistant to the band’s manager Paul McGuinness, but they split up in February 2007.

In June 2017 after receiving the Stevie Ray Vaughan Award for his support of the MusiCares MAP Fund, which gives musicians access to recovery treatment, Adam read out a speech in which he revealed how his relationship with Mariana began: “I was in Brazil and I met a lawyer who was smart and beautiful. We started dating. I got married in sobriety to Mariana. I didn’t think that would happen. She’s never seen me drinking, but she does know me crazy. Thank you, Mariana, for the wonderful life we have together and for making every day more meaningful.”

The much-loved entertainer has been open about his personal battles with alcohol and drugs in the past – and said he’s “unreservedly grateful” for the support he received from his U2 band mates during those dark days.

When Adam checked into rehab in the 1990s to kick his addiction he was amazed that the band stuck by him.

He said: “We have a pact with each other. In our band, no one will be a casualty. We all come home, or none of us come home. No one will be left behind. Thank you for honouring that promise, and letting me be in your band.”

He added: “I was lucky because I had three friends who could see what was going on and who loved me enough to take up the slack of my failing. Bono, The Edge, and Larry truly supported me before and after I entered recovery, and I am unreservedly grateful for their friendship, understanding and support.”

Adam was persuaded to seek help for his problems by Eric Clapton, a former addict, and was supported by The Who’s Pete Townshend, who was in rehab at the same time.

He reckoned his “wonderful life” only came about because he was fought back against his demons.

“I’m not used to achieving anything on my own,” he said. “I’m an alcoholic, addict, but in some ways that devastating disease is what drove me towards this wonderful life I now have.”

Adam, who recently finished a residency with U2 at The Sphere venue in Las Vegas, was last week featured in BBC’s Gardeners’ World, where he gave the show a backstage pass to the spectacular grounds of Danesmoate House, his Georgian mansion in Dublin’s Rathfarnham.

The performer, who lives between London and Dublin, fell in love with the mansion, which had been the location in 1986 for recording The Joshua Tree, the album that catapulted the band to global superstardom.

He reportedly bought Danesmoate for €380,000 in 1988, when he was 28 years old.

Asked what gardening means to him, the rock icon said: “It just takes my mind out of myself. I start to see the colours, I start to see the form and I just go into a different world.”