Star reveals ‘kidnap plots’and how Cardiff roots kept her grounded
CHARLOTTE Church and her mother have told how the singer has remained grounded since finding fame two decades ago – and revealed that at one stage there were “kidnapping plots” against her.
The pair, speaking to Good Morning Britain yesterday, told of the tough family issues that come up in a forthcoming Channel 4 documentary.
The singer, who shot to fame as a child, credited her Cardiff roots as an element in keeping her down to earth.
She said: “We stayed in Cardiff which was really important. If I’d have moved to London – we were going to move over to America at certain points – that glitz and glamorous lifestyle could have sort of got the best of me.
“But because we went back to our roots and everything at home was super-normal then I couldn’t get away with any airs and graces.”
Explaining why they decided to do the open and honest documentary, Charlotte said: “It was a chance for my mum and dad, who’d had a really rough ride in the press for a long time, to set the record straight and show who they are.
“Also, as we explore in the programme, my dad has a terminal illness and what he really wanted to put across is there’s life after a terminal diagnosis.
“There’s still a great deal of living to do and celebrate life rather than get down in the doldrums.”
Discussing the issues that the family had faced from the press at the height of Charlotte’s fame, her mum Maria said: “That’s one thing I despised and hated, the way I portrayed by certain people.
“It was very, very hard, I was demonised , called the ‘Welsh dragon from hell.’ I thought it was very, very unfair.
“I was put in this position of dealing with all these top company people, I was well out of my depth and I thought I did pretty damn well.
“I used to battle for Charlotte like you wouldn’t believe.”
The pair told how Charlotte’s fame at such an early age took a toll on her and her mother Maria’s relationship.
Charlotte added: “It was like a pressure cooker, a really intense situation.
“And there was the Press, they put things into very simple, almost fairytale narrative so mum was the evil stepmother, I was the fallen angel, so on one level there’s that, on another level mum and dad had to deal with the huge security risk, there were a couple of kidnapping plots when I was a kid. A whole load of stress and pressure and we were living in each other’s pockets.”
Speaking about the pair’s relationship after Charlotte moved out of the family home at the age of 16, Maria said: “It was (estranged) for a while. She broke my heart. I had a nervous breakdown.”
Maria revealed that the family had sadly lost her mother recently.
“He’s [husband James] on permanent chemo and as long as he stays on that he’ll keep going,” said Maria. “We’re all very postive.
“If I face it head-on it’s very hard to deal with, but that way we can all cope with it and we’ve recently lost my mum as well.
“I wanted to do it to face issues we’d had with Charlotte from years ago. It’s definitely made us closer.”
Charlotte added: “To watch it [the documentary] back made me really understand mum more, my dad, in a way that I didn’t think was possible.
“To get more meaning. To really start to understand what my success cost my mum, my dad and how insane it must’ve been for them to go through that when trying to protect their daughter. I can’t at all imagine.” ■ Charlotte Church: My Family and Me is on Channel 4 tomorrow at 9pm.