Trisha Goddard has voiced her anger towards her late mother amid her battle to find the identity of her biological father.
The TV host, 63, spoke candidly about her family arrangement on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories and revealed that she realised the man she called dad was not her biological father aged ‘four or five’ as she looked so different to her sisters.
Having then known she was not biologically related to her dad, Trisha was desperate to find out the identity of her real father – however her mother, Agnes Fortune, a Windrush nurse from Dominica, took the secret to her grave in 2004.
Trisha has since launched a fruitless hunt for her father and on Thursday’s show, she spoke to Piers about the agony of the hunt and her battle with identity.
Pained: Trisha Goddard has voiced her anger towards her late mother amid her battle to find the identity of her biological father
Trisha has always been candid about her family and revealed that growing up, she was initially under the impression that her mother’s husband, a white British man from Norfolk, was her father, before being struck by the news at a young age.
Due to the fact her skin was significantly darker than that of her three sisters, yet her mother did not ever tell Trisha the identity of her father.
After her death, her father told Trisha’s third husband Peter the truth and revealed he did not know till Trisha was three months old.
Speaking to Piers, she said: ‘I felt very angry towards Mum. She could have told me. And there were excuses like ‘I wasn’t ready, I wasn’t stable, then I was in the public eye’ and what have you. But I don’t think I would have judged her.
Knowing now: The TV host, 63, spoke candidly about her family arrangement on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories and revealed that she realised the man she called dad was not her biological father aged ‘four or five’ as she looked so different to her sisters
Candid: Trisha has since launched a fruitless hunt for her father and on Thursday’s show, she spoke to Piers about the agony of the hunt and her battle with identity
‘But it made a huge difference growing up. I mean, you know, something’s different.’
Trisha detailed how she discovered her dad was not her biological father, as she revealed she noted how she looked different to her sisters in ‘every way’.
She said: ‘From what I liked and what I did. I remember walking around holding my dad’s hand, singing – there was a hit called ‘I Want to Be Bobby’s Girl’..
‘I used to walk around singing ‘I want to be Daddy’s Girl’. I mean, I idolised my dad and I think as I grew older, I don’t know what was going on between my parents, but I could always sense it.’
Changing: Trisha detailed how she discovered her dad was not her biological father, as she revealed she noted how she looked different to her sisters in ‘every way’
‘I remember when Mum was dying, she died at home and Dad – he is still Dad to me – nursed her. And we left and I took the kids up the road to, they must have been 14 and 10 up the road for snack or something.
‘And they were looking at each other and looking at me in like, ‘shall we tell her?’ And I said, ‘tell me what?’.
‘[They said] “Oh, Mummy, we went up to Nanny’s bedroom and we got Grandpa’s hairbrush and we got some of this hair for you so you can do a DNA test”…
So close: Trisha felt she was getting a step closer to discovering the identification of her father, when a friend of her mother told Trisha her mum had a fling with a member of ‘the West Indian Club’, which she tried to hunt down
‘And I thought, my god my kids have even picked up on it. I don’t remember discussing it with them. But it was always an issue. It affected me dreadfully in my life. I can’t tell you how much it affected me.
Trisha felt she was getting a step closer to discovering the identification of her father, when a friend of her mother told Trisha her mum had a fling with a member of ‘the West Indian Club’, which she tried to hunt down.
She said: ‘I’ve tried to track down that West Indian club. I have looked through the ship’s logs and what have you. But I’d like to know for my health…
Heartache: In 2014, Trisha wrote in The Guardian about her struggle, saying: ‘My dad told my husband, Peter, the truth about my background, that Dad was led to believe I was his daughter, and didn’t know until my mother admitted that another man was my dad’
‘Like where my cancer comes from, I’ve got health things, like my eyes. I remember saying to Dad, I look just like mum. And he said, no, you don’t.’
In 2014, Trisha wrote in The Guardian about her struggle, saying: ‘My dad told my husband, Peter, the truth about my background, that Dad was led to believe I was his daughter, and didn’t know until my mother admitted that another man was my dad…
‘This was when I was about three months old. I think he was too scared to tell me himself. I’ve since had a heritage DNA test, which shows I am also 9% Asian, which implies that my biological father was West Indian too.’
Piers Morgan’s Life Stories airs on ITV on Thursday at 9pm