Pippa O'Connor finally breaks silence on stepdaughter Chloe Ormond's shock claims as friend pinpoints EXACT moment the rift began - and celebrity pals choose sides as brutal fallout escalates

It was a small thing. A set of novelty Christmas pyjamas, the kind that fill Instagram feeds every December. But for Chloe Ormond, it was all-encapsulating.

While Pippa O’Connor, husband Brian Ormond and their three boys lined up in matching festive nightwear, Brian’s eldest child and only daughter Chloe, the odd one out, was dressed in a different pair of pyjamas entirely.

‘It might seem trivial to anyone looking in. But it was indicative of everything she has always felt. They were the family unit and Chloe was the odd one out,’ a source told the Irish Mail on Sunday this weekend.

Last week, those years of hurt spilled into public view. In an Instagram post on Monday, the 26-year-old content creator said she had stayed silent for ‘almost 18 years’ while feeling excluded from the life Pippa shares with her father.

Her claims sent shockwaves through Irish celebrity circles. But sources say the statement was not a sudden outburst. They claim it was a long time coming.

Chloe is Brian’s daughter from his relationship with former partner Natara Byrne, and those who know her say her mother raised her to stand on her own two feet.

‘Chloe has never asked Brian or Pippa for anything,’ a source said. ‘She never expected a leg-up, she never wanted to trade on their name, and she has never wanted to be seen as a nepo baby. 

'Natara instilled that sense of “stand on your own two feet” from day one.’

In the days since her statement, some online commentators have claimed Chloe’s father and stepmother have showered her with luxury. But sources close to Chloe are adamant this is not the case.

‘Chloe grafts. She works for everything she has, just like her mother,’ one said. ‘Nobody handed her anything. That’s the way she was raised, and she’s proud of it.’

Chloe made the same point herself in a follow-up post, insisting she does not rely on anybody financially and, for example, has always bought her own cars.

Others online have pointed out that Pippa was generous to Chloe over the years, passing on handbags and other designer pieces from her own wardrobe. But those close to Chloe are unmoved.

‘It’s a well-known fact that wealthy people give their old designer clothes to their staff,’ one source said. ‘Handing someone your cast-offs is hardly a sign of affection, even if they are designer gear.’

But sources say there is a difference between not wanting handouts and not wanting support.

‘Like any daughter, she just wanted her dad to encourage her,’ one source said. ‘Just to cheer her on. To be proud of her in the way parents usually are. That has been lacking for a very long time.’

Chloe has built a following of her own online but sources claim that her father and stepmother have been conspicuously quiet about her successes.

‘They like posts from every Tom, Dick and Harry,’ one insider said. 

‘But they rarely ever like Chloe’s. With Pippa it’s very, very rare. Brian is a bit better, but it’s still rare. And they definitely don’t share her posts.’

Brian’s own Instagram grid tells a similar story, sources say. A perusal of his feed shows he has not posted a picture of himself and his daughter together since the mismatched pyjamas photo in December 2022.

In contrast, there are a huge number of posts depicting a picture-perfect family of Brian, Pippa and their three young sons.

Things came to a head in recent weeks as Pippa took her beauty empire across the Irish Sea.

Poco Beauty, founded in November 2023, made its UK debut with an exclusive Selfridges partnership. To mark the launch, Pippa flew a host of influencers over to London.

Chloe was not among them. But sources say it was the detail of the celebration that cut the deepest. The launch featured a Pilates event, and Chloe is a fully qualified Pilates teacher.

‘That was the real kicker,’ a source said. ‘Pilates is Chloe’s thing. She trained for it, she qualified, she’s proud of it. And her stepmother hosts a Pilates event for her brand and doesn’t even ask her. Chloe wasn’t looking for a favour. But it felt like she had been deliberately looked past.’

In her statement, Chloe did not hold back. She claimed there was ‘not one photograph’ of her displayed in her dad’s Kildare home and that her achievements had gone unacknowledged.

She alleged she had been made to feel ‘like an inconvenience in my own father’s life’, adding that the polished family image seen online never matched her experience behind closed doors.

In one of the most pointed lines, apparently aimed at the carefully curated world of her stepmother’s brands, Chloe wrote: ‘Family is not a brand aesthetic & kindness that ends behind closed doors is not kindness.’

She also described a pattern of exclusion she claims followed her from childhood into adulthood.

For her part, Pippa broke her silence and insisted through her lawyers that Chloe’s allegations were ‘untrue’ and capable of ‘encouraging others to form an adverse view of her’.

Those close to Chloe insist going public was never about sympathy, followers or social media clout.

‘She didn’t do this for attention, and she certainly didn’t do it to gain followers,’ one source said. ‘She did it because she felt she had no other option. 

'She had tried and tried to be heard privately and she simply wasn’t being listened to.’

Chloe said as much in her follow-up post, stressing she had not spoken out for attention or sympathy and describing herself as a very private person.

She said she had been struggling for a long time, repeatedly explaining how she was affected but feeling that nobody was listening and nothing changed.

Chloe’s father and his wife are considered one of the nation’s most powerful pairings. Clondalkin native Brian first found fame on RTÉ’s You’re A Star and went on to become a familiar face on Irish television. 

He married model Pippa O’Connor in a lavish ceremony at the Ritz Carlton in Co. Wicklow on June 18, 2011, and the couple have three sons together – Ollie, Louis and Billy.

Pippa, meanwhile, has become one of Ireland’s most successful influencers turned entrepreneurs. Her husband is co-owner and director of her fashion brand Poco, and the business has flourished.

Bopoc Holdings Limited, the group behind the couple’s fashion and beauty businesses, reported revenues of €7.75million and pre-tax profits of €1.17million for the 12 months to the end of October 2025.

If Chloe’s close circle hoped her words would prompt some reflection, sources say what happened next only deepened the wound.

On the very night that Chloe shared her statement, Brian posted on social media that he was settling in to watch The Traitors with his son. Pippa responded to his post with two clinking champagne-glass emojis.

‘People saw that and couldn’t believe it,’ one source said. ‘Whatever was meant by it, the timing was brutal. Chloe had just poured her heart out, and there they were, clinking glasses.’

The fallout has also played out in the silent language of Instagram. Chloe, Pippa and Brian no longer appear to be following each other on the platform, though it is not clear who unfollowed whom.

And the rift appears to extend beyond the immediate family. Sources say celebrity choreographer Arthur Gourounlian, one of Brian and Pippa’s closest friends, has also unfollowed Chloe.

‘It shows how far this has gone,’ said one source.

Before now, Brian Ormond and Pippa O’Connor have not publicly responded to the allegations, and a representative for the couple reportedly declined to comment on the original statement.

For Chloe, sources say, the hope was never for a public war. One said: ‘She just wanted to be heard, to feel wanted and included. That’s all it ever was.’