Welsh singer-songwriter Charlotte Church was left stunned after discovering the abuse that her stepdad James Church was subjected to by his own father. Charlotte, 38, chatted with the man who's been part of her life since she was three in the first episode of her podcast Kicking Back with the Cardiffians, which is now available to listen to on BBC Sounds.
In the episode Charlotte and James discussed a whole manner of different topics, including what life was like for James growing up. He told his daughter, who has three children of her own with ex-husband Gavin Henson and current spouse Jonathan Powell, that he had a “difficult” time at home.
James shared: “There was a lot of drinking going on. My father was an alcoholic at the time. My mother was a gambler. My father was a bit of a gambler at the time as well. So we didn't have much... But there was a lot of people like that in the areas I grew up in.”
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When Charlotte asked her dad what his ‘first memory’ was, he described how it “wasn’t pleasant”. He explained: “My first memory is being in bed. My little sister had just been born and she's four years younger than me – that's why I know I was four years of age. My father had come home drunk because we all slept in the one bed. I’ve got two [siblings], a brother and a sister who are older than me. We didn't have pyjamas on and my father came upstairs drunk and beat us with a belt. That was my first memory as a child.”
Shocked, Charlotte replied: “Wow dad that’s f***ing horrific,” and he said: “It's not pleasant. That's why I think what you're doing (with this podcast) is really important. There’s a lot of other questions I wish that I'd ask my mother and father before they passed away.
“One would be: Why to my father? And I would ask him not just why he hit us, but it's the mind games he played. I'd say that that's the part he took pleasure in, not just to frighten us but to torture us in fear. He took great pleasure in that, and that's the part I would like to ask about. There's a big load of things I would bring up.”
Elsewhere in the first episode of the podcast, which is set to feature other members of Charlotte’s family as guests, James revealed what life was like living with a terminal illness. Seven years ago he was diagnosed with AL amyloidosis, which according to the NHS, is a group of rare conditions where a protein called amyloid builds up in your body. It can affect organs such as your heart, kidneys, liver, nerves or digestive system. It cannot be cured, but there are treatments that may help with symptoms.
Kicking Back with the Cardiffians is available to listen to on BBC Sounds. You can keep up to date with the latest TV and showbiz news by signing up to the newsletter here.
