text: ali hewson alison " ali " hewson ( née stewart ; born 23 march 1961 ) is an irish activist and businesswoman . she is the wife of singer and musician paul hewson , known as bono , from the rock group u2 . raised in raheny , she met her future husband at a young age at mount temple comprehensive school and married him in 1982 . she was awarded a degree in politics and sociology from university college dublin in 1989 . the couple have four children together and live at residences in ireland , france , and the united states . she has inspired several u2 songs , most famously " sweetest thing " . hewson became involved in anti - nuclear activism in the 1990s . she narrated black wind , white land , a 1993 irish documentary about the lasting effects of the chernobyl disaster , and has worked closely with activist adi roche . she has been a patron of chernobyl children 's project international since 1994 and has participated in a number of aid missions to the high - radiation exclusion zones of belarus . she has also campaigned against sellafield , the northern english nuclear facility . in 2002 she helped lead an effort which sent more than a million postcards , urging the site be closed , to prime minister tony blair and others . hewson has repeatedly been discussed by tabloid newspapers as a possible candidate for political offices , including president of ireland . none of these suggestions have come to fruition . hewson is the co - founder of two ethical businesses , the fashion line in 2005 and nude skincare products in 2007 . the former , intended to promote fair trade with africa , has struggled to become a viable business . french conglomerate lvmh has made substantial investments into both companies . early life alison stewart was born on 23 march 1961 , the daughter of terry and joy stewart . she has an older brother , ian , and nephew , aspiring model ross stewart , who both live in australia . the stewart family , who resided in the suburb of raheny on dublin 's northside , raised their children as protestants . her father was a self - educated electrical worker who , according to hewson , was " constantly questioning " things . her mother , who was a housewife , had a secretarial career in mind for her daughter . alison studied at mount temple comprehensive school . at the age of twelve , she met paul hewson , who was in the year above at the school . he pursued her immediately , but she initially kept her distance , labeling him " an " even though she secretly admired him . in september 1974 , paul 's mother iris died suddenly , leaving him emotionally adrift and in conflict with his father and brother . soon after , alison began taking care of paul : cleaning his clothes , walking to school with him , and cooking for him . in september 1976 , paul met the other members of what would become u2 ; the band members adopted nicknames , and paul soon became known as bono . at around the same time , he and ali , as she was known , began dating , and soon became a steady couple in the dublin area . it took stewart a while to enjoy the band 's music , as her own tastes ran toward her father 's frank sinatra and nat king cole records . at one point , the pair split up , but soon reunited . the relationship became more serious as she accompanied him in his efforts to break through in the music industry , and by 1979 they were discussing marriage , conditional upon his career becoming established . in the meantime she worked in a motor insurance company and in her father 's electrical business . marriage and family hewson married bono on 21 august 1982 in a church of ireland ceremony at all saints church , raheny . the ceremony combined rituals of both conventional protestantism and the shalom friendship group that bono and other u2 members had belonged to . in debt to u2 's record label , island records , the couple could not afford a honeymoon , but island founder chris blackwell gave them use of the goldeneye estate he owned in jamaica . having returned to ireland , the couple moved to a small mews house in howth , which they shared with the rest of u2 . as the band broke through in popularity with the war tour in 1983 , ali hewson did not readily adapt to the new circumstances . after seeing her with the group at a trendy hollywood nightspot , journalist ann vare commented that ali looked " as out of place as a in a brothel . " although she had wanted to become a nurse , hewson gave up on the notion , as the intense schooling required would have been incompatible with the direction that her husband 's life had taken . instead she focused on studying in the social sciences , to give her an ability to understand social policy and make a difference to people , similar to what nursing would have enabled . by bono 's own description , the marriage hit a period of strain in 1986 due to time commitments during the group 's recording of the joshua tree . tensions continued in 1987 during the subsequent joshua tree tour . ali received a degree in social science , politics and sociology from university college dublin in 1989 at age 28 , giving birth to the couple 's first daughter , jordan , two weeks before her final exams . further plans to earn a master 's degree in moral and political ethics were derailed by the birth of their second daughter , memphis eve , in 1991 . two sons , elijah bob guggi q and john abraham , were born in 1999 and 2001 , respectively . being effectively a single parent while u2 toured was difficult for hewson , but she now found bono helpful even at a distance . activism in late 1985 , following u2 's participation in live aid , bono and hewson spent five weeks as aid volunteers in during the 1983 – 1985 famine in ethiopia . she saw children with no possessions and at risk of death ; despite this , to her they appeared more spiritually alive than those in ireland who had material comforts but seemed spoiled and spiritually unaware . in 1986 , the couple travelled to strife - torn areas in nicaragua and el salvador on a visit organised by central american mission partners . in 1992 , hewson participated in greenpeace protests against the sellafield plant for nuclear reprocessing , located across the irish sea in cumbria , england . she was especially set against the under - construction thermal oxide plant component being opened . she was aboard greenpeace 's mv solo when it staged a publicity - oriented " raid " wherein the band members landed on the beach at the plant in rubber dinghies , but she said she had not been responsible for that particular protest . this involvement led her to become interested in the chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986 . after a request by activist adi roche , she went to blighted , high - radiation exclusion zones in belarus for three weeks to narrate part of black wind , white land . the 1993 irish documentary , shown on rté , highlighted the plight of fallout victims of the chernobyl event . hot press magazine wrote that hewson had " obvious gifts as a presenter , which include a sense of quiet compassion that draws forth the best from the people she talks with . " another reviewer said that the documentary was very effective until she started speaking . since 1994 , hewson has been a patron of chernobyl children 's project international ( shortened to chernobyl children international in 2010 ) , an organisation founded and run by roche that works with children , families , and communities that continue to be affected by chernobyl . through the years , hewson has taken at least ten trips to belarus and other nations in the region despite the risk to her health . she has organised overland aid convoys and sometimes driven ambulances filled with medical supplies herself ; in one case she had to retreat quickly when a fire spread in a village a few miles from chernobyl . hewson has made sure her own children met those from chernobyl with birth deformities and other illnesses , so that they would have a broader appreciation of the world and what to be thankful for . she has said that fundraising for those affected is very difficult , given that many people believe the problems of chernobyl are all in the past . she was aware from the outset that her circumstances would make her vulnerable to " ladies who lunch " -style remarks ( sometimes made against women , married to wealthy , high - profile men , who engage in charitable activities ) , but said , " people who criticise these women are probably giving into cynicism , and i think if you get cynical about life , you lose the real meaning of it . " in 2007 , she became a member of the board of directors for chernobyl children 's project international , a role that would give her a voice in the organisation 's policy making . in 2009 , she staged a public abseil of the 17 - storey elysian tower in cork to raise funds for the organisation . she returned to the sellafield issue in 2002 , noting that while ireland had no nuclear power plants itself , belarus had been the most affected region even though chernobyl was not in it , and that was " exactly what could happen in ireland if there was an explosion at sellafield . " in addition , she feared the ongoing low - level emissions from sellafield : " i started to wonder how safe it was for [ children ] to play on the beach or to swim in the sea or even to eat fish . " in the aftermath of the 11 september 2001 attacks , she also viewed the plant as vulnerable to terrorists . in april 2002 , hewson was one of the leaders of an effort which delivered over a million postcards demanding that the facility be shut down ; recipients included british prime minister tony blair , prince charles , and norman askew , head of british nuclear fuels limited . ( the message to the first said , " tony , look me in the eye and tell me i 'm safe . " ) she personally delivered a giant postcard to blair at 10 downing street . the shut sellafield campaign had its postcards stocked in and dunnes stores supermarkets , and hewson publicly engaged tesco when they refused to do the same . the campaign was backed by celebrities , including ronan keating and samantha mumba , and hewson made many newspaper and radio appearances on its behalf . it was the first prolonged exposure hewson had to the public eye , after two decades of mostly being focused upon maintaining her privacy . her continued activism also meant that she too would not always be around for the couple 's children . as the postcard effort was reaching its peak , tabloid newspapers speculated that the labour party wanted to put hewson up for the irish presidential election of 2004 , with the daily mirror quoting an unnamed party insider as saying , " she 's a mother of four but she has always had world issues at heart and she 'd make the perfect candidate . " ( labour had succeeded with its candidate mary robinson in the 1990 election but came in fourth with roche in the 1997 election . ) hewson stated that she had not been approached , and that " it 's not a serious proposition . it would obviously be a huge honour if i was asked to take on such a huge task , but for one thing i 'm not sure i 'm qualified , and for another i 've got four small kids to bring up first . " she also expressed contentment with incumbent president mary mcaleese staying for another term . she jokingly added that she could not see bono agreeing to live in a smaller house . hewson received a media mention two years later as a possible social democratic and labour party candidate in the 2004 european parliament elections after john hume had stood down . the notion of her running for irish president came up again in 2008 in conjunction with the 2011 election ; columnist fiona looney wrote in the daily mail that while " she is certainly a decent and smart woman " , the position was better held by someone with a stronger background and more diplomatic experience . hewson demurred once more , saying she did not speak the irish language well enough , this time adding humorously that she could not see her husband being willing to walk behind her at events . the candidate that labour did put up , michael d. higgins , won the post . notwithstanding this speculation , hewson generally away from political comments in the media . hewson has long advocated for a children 's museum for ireland , inspired by a positive experience her daughters had at the dallas children 's museum in the mid - 1990s . in 2003 , plans were announced to build the so - called exploration station as part of an overall € 500 million heuston gate development project near the dublin heuston railway station . the children - oriented science centre was to be owned by the irish children 's museum charitable trust , with hewson as a prominent member of the museum . hewson 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 , over the next few years the science centre faced significant cost overruns in the planning stages and a possible european commission investigation into how the office of public works had handled the awarding of the contract for it . the effects of the financial crisis of 2007 – 2008 then put a halt to the entire heuston gate project . as of november 2012 , there were no signs that the heuston gate or science centre projects would be revived . in 2015 hewson signed an open letter which the one campaign had been collecting signatures for ; the letter was addressed to angela merkel and nkosazana dlamini - zuma , urging them to focus on women as they serve as the head of the g7 in germany and the au in south africa respectively , which will start to set the priorities in development funding before a main un summit in september 2015 that will establish new development goals for the generation . business career in 2005 , hewson , bono and designer rogan gregory co - founded the fashion label . it was intended to help bring about positive change in africa through a fair trade - based relationship rather than by direct aid . another aim of the label was to set an ethical example in an industry they felt had long exploited child labour . she said they wanted " to show that you can make a for - profit business where everybody in the chain is treated well . " hewson had not been particularly interested in fashion prior to this undertaking . hewson emphasised that edun would have to be profitable to be considered a success , but in this it struggled . she later admitted that the couple were naive about what it takes to make a successful fashion enterprise . edun encountered problems with both quality of goods and delivery times from their african suppliers , and most of the stores originally carrying the line dropped it . it lost € 9 . 7 million in 2007 and € 12 . 8 million in 2008 , suffering along with the rest of the apparel sector from the credit crisis of 2008 . after the couple had put $ 20 million of their own funds into the venture , they sold 49 percent of it to french conglomerate lvmh in 2009 . the relaunched edun featured sharon as its new chief designer . by 2010 , the company had outsourced much of the manufacturing for its new fashion line to china , generating some negative reactions , while simpler garments were still african - made . hewson said that business realities compelled this action , but that she hoped more work could be done in africa in the future . hewson devoted a large amount of time to edun , saying in 2011 , " i think [ the fashion industry ] is the toughest business there is , " and that despite the obstacles and struggles , " you just keep going . " the proposition remained difficult , however , and edun lost € 6 . 8 million in 2011 and € 5 . 9 million in 2012 . the said the company was in an investment phase and they were satisfied with the five - year strategic business plan underway . hewson is also co - founder , along with bryan meehan , of nude skincare – a luxury , natural skincare company . established in 2007 , the venture sought to combine ethical principles and environmentally friendly , yet chic , packaging , with a high - performance product based on probiotics and omega oils . in 2009 , hewson brought legal action in england against stella mccartney for bringing out stella nude , a new eau de toilette version of the stella perfume , saying that it amounted to copyright infringement of her own nude skincare . hewson lost in the high court when mr justice floyd ruled against her . in february 2011 , lvmh purchased 70 percent of nude skincare . the following year , hewson said that being part of a much larger corporation gave them research and development resources that they previously lacked and a more focused approach to marketing . she added , " it took us much longer to get here than we anticipated . but we still have very big ambitions for the brand to go much farther . " hewson herself has pale skin and very dark hair , wears little jewellery , and has eschewed cosmetic surgery . the evening standard described hewson 's style as " the antithesis of bling " and columnist amanda brunker wrote that at age 50 her attractive appearance " seems to defy all the odds " given her hectic lifestyle . hewson and u2 hewson has served as at least partial inspiration for many bono - authored u2 songs , going back to the track " another time , another place " from their 1980 début album boy . she helped bono get through a bad period of writer 's block during the lead - up to the 1983 war album , particularly in the composition of the lyrics to " sunday bloody sunday " . she inspired the personal themes in " new year 's day " , from the same record . that album and the accompanying war tour brought financial success to the band , and bono and hewson moved into a three - level , three - room martello tower in bray . the group 's 1984 song " promenade " reflects both that location and the spiritual aspects of his desire for her . the u2 song " sweetest thing " was written for hewson as a gift because bono forgot her birthday whilst recording with the band during the joshua tree sessions . originally released as a b - side in 1987 , it was later re - recorded and released as a single from the compilation album the best of 1980 – 1990 in 1998 . hewson agreed to appear in the single 's music video as long as all proceeds from it went to chernobyl children 's project . bono wrote the lyric of the 1988 song " all i want is you " as a meditation on the idea of commitment . he later said , " [ it ] ' s clearly about a younger version of myself and my relationship with ali , " and added that by nature he was 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 . " u2 lyrics usually have several possible levels of interpretation , and it is not always possible to definitively ascribe hewson 's influence upon them , but music writer niall stokes believes that inspiration from hewson is pronounced throughout the group 's 1997 album pop , particularly on " staring at the sun " , which he believes reflects her chernobyl children 's project involvement and the feelings of both danger and hopefulness that it triggered in bono . stokes also believes that the 2000 song " when i look at the world " is an explicit acknowledgement of hewson 's strength and commitment as exemplified by that chernobyl work , while others think it is about jesus or god . bono has seemed to deflect those interpretations , saying that song is in part a hard - edged look at himself from the eyes of one losing faith . in any case , bono has said that he does not feel constrained in his writing or interviews by what hewson might think , as " [ she ] doesn 't read newspapers . or listen to the radio . there 's a mysterious distance between us . " not known for being musical herself , hewson did perform lady gaga 's " telephone " , as a duet with her husband , to serenade their daughter eve at her 21st birthday celebration at a club in las vegas in 2012 . hewson and her family live in killiney , in south county dublin , in a mansion and grounds that overlook the irish sea and that have been expanded by purchasing the adjoining property . bill clinton and salman rushdie are among those who have stayed at the guest house there . with u2 bandmate the edge , the couple co - own a 20 - room villa in èze in the alpes - maritimes in the south of france , where bono and hewson often mix with top celebrities . hewson in particular has been friendly with several supermodels , which she uses to her advantage when booking charity events . bono and hewson also own a $ 14 . 5 million penthouse apartment at the san remo on the upper west side of manhattan , which they purchased from steve jobs . by 2011 , the couple 's fortune was placed at € 572 million . while her husband has provoked a variety of critical responses , some negative ; assessments of hewson have generally been favourable , characterising her as down - to - earth . she views herself as " not a typical rock star wife " . their marriage has been considered one of the most long - lived and stable in the entertainment world . she does have to deal with the psychological effects of her husband coming off tour and readjusting to domestic life . after the extended 1992 – 1993 zoo tv tour , full of sensory overloads and alternate stage personae for bono , the couple began a practice of hosting sunday lunches at home , to establish a sense of regular , ordinary activities . the family became fixtures at sunday services in killiney as well , with a bond of christianity still existing between the couple . she has stated , " i 've no desire to be a star , " seeing the effect intense public attention has had on both her husband and on adi roche . while she dislikes being referred to as " 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 cranberries ' 2001 song " time is out " was inspired by hewson 's work with chernobyl children 's project . in 2002 , hewson received an honorary doctor of laws degree from the national university of ireland for her work on environmental issues , particularly the chernobyl children 's project . bono and ali hewson were given the council of fashion designers of america board of directors ' special tribute award in 2007 for their humanitarian work via the edun clothing line . hewson was also voted sexiest celebrity other half in a 2008 poll by