Bono lived on mash and airplane food after mother's sudden death

U2 frontman Bono has shared that he lived on very basic food after his mother died when he was just a teenager. The singer, who is now estimated to be worth an eye-watering £500million, explained that he spent his money on "more important things" such as music as "food was just fuel".

The 65-year-old revealed all on Ruthie's Table 4 podcast, telling host Ruthie Rogers all about his grief after his mother, Iris Hewton, passed away when he was 14. He said: "After my mother died, I would usually return home with a tin of meat, a tin of beans and a packet of Cadbury's Smash [instant mashed potato]." Bono continued: "Thinking back to being a teenager, food was just fuel. I would spend my food money on things far more important like Alice Cooper's Hello Hooray." The singer and his brother also often enjoyed leftover aeroplane food, too.

He shared: "The house was two miles away from the runway where my brother Norman worked for Aer Lingus. He had talked them into allowing him to bring home the surplus food from the airline. This was highly exotic fare.

"Gammon steak and pineapple, an Italian dish called lasagne that we'd never heard of or one where rice was no longer a milk pudding but a savoury experience with peas."

Bono, who was born Paul David Hewson, admitted that his relationship with food changed after his mum died, even though he had little memory of her. He heartbreakingly confessed: "Sadly, I don't have many memories of my mother cooking or otherwise.

"After my mother died, we just didn't speak her name. So it's hard when you do that to recall these things. We certainly had kitchen table dramas, three men arguing a lot because the woman of the house was gone. And I remember my relationship with food changed."

Numerous U2 songs reference his mother's death or absence, including I Will Follow, Tomorrow, Out of Control, Mofo and Iris (Hold Me Close).

While his father had a passion for opera, Bono says as a child his parents didn't encourage his interest in music. Writing in his memoir, he shared: "My mother heard me sing publicly just once. I played the Pharaoh in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.'

"It was really the part of an Elvis impersonator, so that's what I did. Dressed up in one of my mother's white trouser suits with some silvery sequins glued on, I curled my lip and brought the house down.

"Iris laughed and laughed. She seemed surprised that I could sing, that I was musical."