Campbell’s fears over danger of mixed-race adoptions
BROADCASTER Nicky Campbell has warned that interracial adoption could create ‘an extra layer of identity crises’ for children.
The 55-year-old TV presenter, who was adopted when he was four days old, said his view that skin colour does not matter has changed since he began working with charities involved.
He said the combination of being adopted, coming from another culture and looking different to one’s new parents can be a triple blow.
He told Radio Times: ‘I have changed my view of interracial adoption. Originally, I used to think love is love, whatever colour or race the adoptive parents are.
‘But when you’re adopted, there is a lot of identity crisis anyway.’ He went on to reveal his own struggle when he was young, which stemmed from having differentcoloured eyes to his adopted family.
He said: ‘I had a big identity crisis because I had blue eyes and no one else in my family had blue eyes. So if you are adopted, plus you come from a different culture, plus you look completely different, it’s like a triple whammy.
‘There are situations where that doesn’t matter but in the long term it’s an extra layer of identity problems.’
The Edinburgh-born father of four, who is married to journalist Tina Ritchie, is best-known for hosting the Radio 5 Live breakfast show and BBC One’s ethical debate programme The Big Questions.
He recently made headlines when he was attacked on a tram in Manchester after asking a passenger to turn their music down, and for confronting litter louts in a park.
Through his work on ITV’s Long Lost Family, which he hosts with Davina McCall, he has raised the profile of adoption. In a recent
‘Nobody else had blue eyes in family’
interview with The Sunday Times Magazine he spoke candidly about the ‘surreal’ moment he met his birth mother Stella in 1990, when he was 29.
He said that while it was the first time he saw a face that looked like his, he described feeling ‘no emotional connection’ to her.
He said of the reunion in Dublin: ‘Deciding to look for my birth mother seemed to coincide with me being in a difficult place in my own life – trying to find out who I was. I hired a detective and it was all pretty quick.
‘But I felt no spiritual connection. There was nothing. If anything, I felt quite sorry for her.’
He hinted during his interview that the aftermath of a reunion can often be the hardest part.
He said: ‘It’s very difficult, not just the build-up to it, the reunion, but dealing with that afterwards. Sometimes it creates even more of a “Who am I?’’ feeling.’
The next series of Long Lost Family starts on Wednesday next week at 9pm.