Ryan Tubridy reveals that therapy 'helped enormously' following RTÉ scandal in 2023

Ryan Tubridy has revealed that he "wouldn't burn any bridges anywhere" when speaking on whether or not he would return to work with RTÉ.

The former Late Late Show host made the comments during an interview with RTÉ Guide this week where he spoke about going to therapy and the fallout of the 2023 RTÉ scandal.

READ NEXT: ALERT! Irish parents warned as SHEIN recalls popular children's toy amid serious choking fears

In June 2023, RTÉ revealed that it had under-reported how much Tubridy got paid over several years. Between 2017 and 2022, the presenter was paid an extra €345,000 beyond what was publicly declared.

The extra payments were not included in RTÉ's official accounts and had been kept out of the public figures previously reported to staff, licence fee payers and the Oireachtas.

The extra money largely came from a 2020 agreement involving Tubridy, his agent Noel Kelly and a corporate sponsor of the Late Late Show.

Tubridy was to receive €75,000 per year for making public appearances tied to a sponsor (Renault). When Renault withdrew from the deal RTÉ ended up covering all of the payments directly but did not classify this as part of the presenter's salary.

The revelations caused major uproar across the country as RTÉ's board said the misreporting was a "serious breach of trust".

Tubridy subsequently stepped down as the Late Late Show host and stopped presenting his radio show after the scandal broke.

In 2025, he announced that he repaid €150,000 to RTÉ but had stated publicly that he felt "cancelled" following the revelations with his agent saying he was unfairly made the "poster boy" for the scandal.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by RTÉ Guide (@rteguide)

READ NEXT: Gardai put the brakes on motorist caught driving car with 'a number of serious defects'

However, in his interview with RTÉ Guide, Tubridy said that he "wouldn't burn any bridges anywhere," as he revealed he was asked to do "a few TV things for RTÉ, independent commissions, but they weren't the right project for the time".

Speaking on the scandal, Tubridy said

"The media were relentless in their pursuit of me, 'Johnny Chatshow' pitched as the problem for the whole of the RTÉ organisation. They stopped thinking about the fact that I had a mother, or a family or people who would be upset by their coverage.

"They might say 'well it was all your fault' and so on. But my mother protected her son, my family protected their brother, and my girls protected their father."

Following the scandal, Tubridy moved to London to host a new radio show on Virgin Radio UK for two years. In late 2025 he left the radio show to focus on new media projects including a YouTube channel called The Late Show with Ryan Tubridy in which he interviews writers, journalists and experts about the lives of major film, music, TV and sports figures.

He also started a podcast titled The Bookshelf with Ryan Tubridy where he interviews celebrities and public figures about books that have been meaningful to them.

Tubridy also revealed in the interview that he had been seeking therapy before the fallout of the scandal to get his "mind in order".

READ NEXT: Search stood down for 17-year-old missing four days as Gardaí issue update

"I was seeing a therapist for about six months before the RTÉ thing," he said, "I was hitting 50 and I wanted to get my mind in order as I was heading towards a decision regarding the Late Late Show.

"I met this terrific therapist, and we clicked," he added, "so by the time the fan was hit by the excrement, I had somewhere to go to ask 'what the hell is happening'. That helped enormously."