In 1962, Keane married Therese O'Donnell, who, as Terry Keane, became a fashion journalist and later a social diarist.[3] They had three children together, and later became close to the daughter Terry had previously given up for adoption.[3] The couple separated in the 1980s but remained amicable.[3] Their son Tim died suddenly in 2004.[4] In 1999, Terry revealed on The Late Late Show her affair beginning in 1972 with sometime Taoiseach Charles Haughey.[3] Ronan and Terry's daughter Justine Keane is married to Diarmuid Gavin, the Irish garden designer and television personality.