Charlotte heals bitter rift with parents...on TV
SINGER Charlotte Church has staged an emotional on-screen reconciliation with her mother and stepfather, healing a rift that began when she walked out of the family home as a teenager to move in with a jobless boyfriend.
The fallout was so severe, it resulted in the Welsh former child star not speaking to the couple for nearly two years and led her mother Maria to suffer a nervous breakdown.
Channel 4 viewers will see the family hug and bare their souls as they discuss the rift for the first time as Charlotte, 33, spent a week with Maria and stepfather James for the documentary. It was filmed after James, 55, was diagnosed with a rare incurable illness, AL amyloidosis, which could mean he has only months to live.
During the show, Charlotte, now married to musician Johnny Powell with two children of her own, recounts the episode that led to the breakdown in their relationship. When Charlotte was 16, Maria dismissed her ‘waster’ boyfriend Steven Johnson as unsuitable prompting Charlotte to declare she was moving out.
Charlotte recounts how her mother pleaded with her not to go. But Charlotte admits she responded as ‘cold as ice’ by stepping over her mother as she lay on the floor. Maria says: ‘I was heartbroken. She wouldn’t speak to me for about a year-anda-half. I had a nervous breakdown.’ Charlotte admits to having been ‘really callous’. ‘I dealt with it awfully. But on the other side I was in pain as well. I hated not speaking to you.’
Charlotte Church: My Family And Me, Channel 4, 10pm, Thursday.