[1][2] She was a daughter of Theodore I Laskaris,[3] emperor of Nicaea and Anna Komnene Angelina.

Her maternal grandparents were Alexios III Angelos and Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamatera.

[1] Much of the nobility, including Irene's family, fled, and re-established a capitol in Nicaea; this became the Nicaean empire.

[1] Irene first married the general Andronikos Palaiologos, and after his death became the wife of Theodore's designated successor, the future John III Doukas Vatatzes[3] in 1212.

She retired to a convent, taking the monastic name Eugenia, and died there in summer of 1240, some fourteen years before her husband.