Karen Koster didn’t leave her family home until she was almost 30, but there is a very sweet reason behind former Xposé star’s decision to stay.

The Dublin woman, who grew up in Killiney, reflected on the reason why she continued living at home for so long, revealing she often wonders if it was to stay close to her beloved mum, Brenda.

Brenda sadly passed away in 2022, but Karen has nothing but happy memories. She explained that her mum, and dad, Herman, made their home ‘a happy place.’

Since Karen’s father was from the Netherlands, the family grew up ‘with no close family nearby.’ She told the Irish Examiner: ‘We were a tight-knit unit of five.’

Karen is the youngest sibling by a significant amount, as her brother Greg is thirteen years her senior, while her sister Zoe is ten years older.

She joked that she was always the baby of the house, and so remaining in the house meant she got special treatment from her mum.

‘She and I were close and she gave me the run of the house,’ she told the outlet. ‘I didn’t know how good I had it until I left. She did the grocery shopping and my laundry. No wonder I milked it for as long as I could.’

‘I’m trying to carry on the traditions Mum had with us. She enjoyed life and appreciated the good times and always made a big deal of birthdays, decorating the kitchen table with balloons, cards, and presents,’ she added.

Karen revealed her own husband, John McGuire, said that he really liked that her family did that, so it’s something they do with our own kids.

‘But it keeps escalating every year, with the likes of confetti cannons and helium balloons. Maybe we need to rein it back to Mum levels,’ Karen joked.