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.

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.

[1][12] 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.

After seeing her with the group at a trendy Hollywood nightspot, journalist Ethlie Ann Vare commented that Ali looked "as out of place as a dairymaid in a brothel.

[7] 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.

[25] Hewson 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.

[27] 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,[32] but she said she had not been responsible for that particular protest.

[27] After a request by activist Adi Roche,[7] she went to blighted, high-radiation exclusion zones in Belarus for three weeks to narrate part of Black Wind, White Land.

[4][27][33] 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."

[1][33][34][35] She has organised overland aid convoys and sometimes driven ambulances filled with medical supplies herself;[8][35] in one case she had to retreat quickly when a fire spread in a village a few miles from Chernobyl.

"[7][34] 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.

[34][40] The Shut Sellafield Campaign had its postcards stocked in Superquinn and Dunnes Stores supermarkets, and Hewson publicly engaged Tesco when they refused to do the same.

[42] The campaign was backed by celebrities, including Ronan Keating and Samantha Mumba,[42] and Hewson made many newspaper and radio appearances on its behalf.

[41] 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.

[48] The children-oriented science centre was to be owned by the Irish Children's Museum charitable trust, established in 2006, with Hewson as a member of the board led by Danny O'Hare.

[48] 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.

[52] 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.

[57] 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.

[61] Established in 2007, the venture sought to combine ethical principles and environmentally friendly, yet chic, packaging,[5][62] with a high-performance product based on probiotics and omega oils.

[55] 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.

[8][46] The Evening Standard described Hewson's style as "the antithesis of bling"[8] and columnist Amanda Brunker wrote that at age 50 her attractive appearance "seems to defy all the odds" given her hectic lifestyle.

[70] 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.

[72] 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.

[76] 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,[33] while others think it is about Jesus or God.

"[78] 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.

[8] 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.

[b][7] 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.

[27] 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.

[86] 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.

[87][88] 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.