Overview

• Bono recounted on the Ruthie’s Table 4 podcast that his mother, Iris Hewton, died of an aneurysm in 1974 when he was 14.
• He said surplus Aer Lingus meals and Cadbury’s Smash instant mashed potato were his primary sustenance after her death.
• His older brother Norman secured surplus airline meals through his job at Dublin Airport to bring home to the family.
• Bono described food as mere fuel in his teens, choosing to spend limited funds on records like Alice Cooper’s Hello Hooray instead.
• After U2’s success, he and his bandmates saved tour per diems by forgoing hotels and using the funds for restaurant meals, a practice he now recalls alongside his £500 million fortune.