The day I found out my mum’s dad was not my grandad.. he was my dad too
Writer John Byrne reveals his shocking family secret
Artist and writer John Byrne has revealed he is the child of an incestuous relationship.
The 77-year-old has told how he is the son of his mum Alice and his grandfather Patrick McShane.
Tutti Frutti creator Byrne only discovered the secret in 2002 when a family member broke her silence.
Byrne was with ex- partner, actress Tilda Swinton, at their Highland home in Tain when they received a phone call from his cousin Aileen Kane.
Her own mother, who had just died, had told Aileen the truth about McShane years earlier.
Byrne said: “She said: ‘I can’t tell you over the phone’.
“She did tell me in person. My father was my grandfather, Patrick McShane.”
Byrne’s mum died in Dykebar Hospital in Paisley in the 1980s, aged 74, after a long struggle with schizophrenia.
He believes her mental illness was brought on by her sexual relationship with McShane.
The artist said everything fell into place after learning the real identity of his father.
Byrne recal led his mother regularly walking eight miles between their home in Ferguslie Park, Paisley, to his grandparents’ house in Cardonald, Glasgow.
He said: “My mother was constant ly voyaging out to Cardonald. She was in love with her own father, utterly and totally. She just wanted to be in his company. She couldn’t even confess it.”
Byrne says Patrick Byrne – the man who brought him up and his mother’s husband – didn’t know about the incest.
He added: “He was a wonderful man, my father. The man I called father.”
Byrne has previously spoken about the sexual abuse of his mother by his grandfather, from her mid teens until her early 30s.
But it is the first time he has revealed details about his real dad.
The writer said he first felt hatred for his grandfather, who died from cancer. But over the years he has come to terms with the situation.
He added: “It’s because I admitted to mysel f that I adored my grandfather, beforehand,
“What d id he do to me particularly, that damaged me? I don’t think he did damage me. I think he gave me that wonderful mixture of genes with his own daughter.”
Byrne shot to fame as the writer of Tutti Frutti, the 1987 hit TV series that also launched the careers of Robbie Coltrane, Emma Thompson and Richard Wilson.
It told the story of a fictional Scottish rock ‘ n’roll band the Majestics.
He met Swinton on the set of Your Cheatin’ Heart, the follow-up series in 1990. They had two children before splitting in 2005.
Byrne said Jim, his elder brother, was his father’s son and they do not look like each other.
Byrne also wrote the famous Slab Boys trilogy and is also known for his LP cover work for his musician friend Gerry Rafferty, and others including Donovan.
In 2014 Byrne had his art work exhibited at the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh.