Alex Scott’s slave shock: My family OWNED people?
Star horrified by BBC show’s revelation
GRIM List of ancestor’s slaves
BBC presenter Alex Scott fought back tears after learning her Jamaican ancestor owned 26 slaves in the 1820s.
The former footballer visited the island to trace her father’s lineage back for BBC genealogy series, Who Do You Think You Are?
But she was horrified to learn her four-times-great-grandfather Robert Coombs didn’t just own property – he owned people as well.
As she looked at the records of those enslaved to Robert between 1817 and 1832, Alex, 37, could not believe what she was seeing.
She said: “This doesn’t sound right coming out of my mouth but Robert Coombs owned people.”
A historian explained that, being light-skinned, he would have received special treatment that allowed him to prosper. But growing tearful, the Football Focus host said: “That goes against everything I stand for, who I am.”
Alex also learned that Robert had two children with one of the women he owned.
Growing emotional again, she admitted: “It was hard to take.”
Alex’s father walked out on her mum around the time she signed for Arsenal’s youth team, aged eight.
But she stayed close to her Jamaican gran, Philicita, who was part of the Windrush generation. She died in 2017.
Talking of her own childhood, Alex said: “I know what my mum went through, being a white single mum raising two black kids.
“I felt a bit lost… I wasn’t black enough to be black or white enough to be white.”
Alex said she had no regrets about doing the show and added: “I feel grateful to have found out about my past.”
That goes against everything I stand for, who I am
ON HER FAMILY’S DARK SECRET