[1] Born on 12 October 1983, Donoghue grew up in Lower Hutt but he also lived in Perth, Western Australia, for three years when he was younger.
[2] He was educated at Catholic boys' school St Bernard's College, Lower Hutt,[3] finishing in 2001, where he was involved in cricket, debating and was a prefect.
He has said he believes the New Zealand education system suffers from a "woke virus" and the "ever-increasing sexualisation of children" in primary schools which are "teaching kids about different sexual preferences, acts, genders at a very young age”, calling for a return to basic sexual education that begins when children reach intermediate or high school.
"[9] Donoghue has also stated support for New Zealand First's stance on withholding public funding to sports bodies that do not have exclusive biological female categories, stating that New Zealand Olympian Lorraine Moller told him "biological men participating in female sports, blowing them away, in their changing spaces, and what it's doing is discouraging women from actually participating now.
[citation needed] In 2007, he became involved with an online support site for people dealing with depression called The Lowdown.