BBC presenter Nicky Campbell and one of his daughters, Kirsty, reflected on an emotional chapter in his memoir, in which he reflected on his upbringing with adoptive parents
BBC Radio 5 Live’s Nicky Campbell’s daughter Kirsty said she was left in tears, upon learning about a particular moment during his childhood.
Details of Nicky’s family tree came to light when he appeared on BBC’s ancestry show, Who Do You Think You Are? in 2007.
In the programme, viewers learned that the radio presenter was adopted just a few days after he was born in 1961, by Frank and Sheila Campbell.
Upon searching for his biological mother, Stella Lackey, in his 20s, he realised she was unmarried and had travelled from Ireland to give birth.
While she sent Nicky Christmas cards for the first five years of his life, they had no direct contact.
Nicky said he decided to track down his mother Stella and biological father Joseph, out of curiosity.
He dived further into this chapter of his life in his memoir, which led to Kirsty ending up in tears.
Nicky claims that the day he was adopted aged just four was “the day I won the lottery of life”.
Reflecting on a particular moment on his ninth birthday, he told The Times: “We were in Inverness, mum and dad made a big fuss and a cake came in and an organist in the corner started playing Happy Birthday.
“I remember this really strong feeling of ‘I don’t deserve this, because I’m different’. I felt very exposed.
“If you’re adopted you veer between desperately wanting to belong and thinking you never will, feeling like an outsider.”
According to the publication, Kirsty said she “cried” when reading this specific account in his memoir.
Sharing more details about meeting his biological mother for the first time, he said she had a “terribly challenging life”, was bipolar, and had been hospitalised for breakdowns a number of times.
Nicky recalled of their first encounter: “She was three hours late, because she was so nervous she’d taken sleeping tablets and overslept.
“She took me to her house for an evening and started pretending to be my mum, which freaked me out.”
Despite reuniting after so many years, the presenter said he didn’t develop a close bond with her before her death in 2008.
Nicky also tracked down his real father Eugene, a Catholic policeman from Belfast whom Kirsty also met, and developed a cordial relationship with him.
No stranger to opening up about his own mental health issues, Nicky himself was diagnosed with depression and bipolar following a breakdown in 2013.
The presenter believes he may have developed these conditions from his mother, as well as from the trauma of abuse he encountered during his school years.
Reflecting on his breakdown in 2013, Nicky credited Kirsty and his other daughters, Breagha, Lilla and Isla, for being “great” during this difficult period.
“They just thought everybody’s daddy was always bursting into tears and going to lock himself away,” he told the publication.
Recalling what she remembered of that time, Kirsty added: “I just remember mum saying dad gets really sad, but I was too little to understand then.”
