Inside Charlotte Church’s family life as she admits to ‘cutting ties’ with them aged 16

Charlotte Church is the latest celebrity set to take part in a revealing interview with Kate Garraway for the new series of Life Stories.

The Welsh singer, 35, will be opening up about her life after shooting to fame as a child and growing up in the public eye.

Charlotte, who recently starred on The Masked Singer as Mushroom, is also set to reveal all about her relationship with her mum, Maria, after “cutting ties” with her family when she was just 16.

The star ran away from home when she was a teenager, leaving her mum devastated and eventually leading to her having a nervous breakdown.

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Who are Charlotte Church’s parents?

Charlotte’s mum Maria was her manager when she shot to fame as a child, however, the singer sensationally sacked her when she was a teenager.

Charlotte explained how she “needed to be free” on Life Stories, saying: “As far as I was concerned, I needed to be free.

“I had to be a specific way for a long time and all of the normal ways in which we grow… were stifled and such.”

Explaining her thought process at the time, the singer also added: “I just had to cut the ties. I was at an age where I thought I knew everything. I knew better and I knew what I was doing.

“They were just trying to protect me but I just saw that as holding me too tight.

“It’s only with hindsight that I knew just what it meant to my mum. It felt like they had completely lost me and just this whole life that we had built together for the last few years.”

After around two years of being isolated from one another, the pair finally reconciled and now share a close bond.

In a clip played on Life Stories, Maria described how she was “very, very hurt” by Charlotte’s actions, before adding: “I felt loss, I felt isolated. I just totally shut down. I had a nervous breakdown. For months and months, I couldn’t get out of bed. I was devastated.”

Maria no longer works in the music industry, and has since opened her own dog grooming and hotel business.

Maria has been married to James Church, as Welsh singer, since 1992 and he adopted Charlotte when she was three years old.

During an appearance on This Morning in January, Charlotte opened up about her beloved step-father’s terminal illness, after James was diagnosed with AL amyloidosis in 2019, a rare disorder.

The 35 year old said: “He’s amazing. He’s got a terminal illness called amyloidosis, which he’s constantly telling me, ‘Will you stop talking about it on tele?’ But he’s amazing. He’s absolutely phenomenal.”

Opening up about the disorder, the singer added: “It’s a really tricky disease. It’s quite rare, not a lot of people know about it so I do always try and bring a bit of awareness to what he’s going through but he is just absolutely wonderful and miraculous and has a serious will to survive and a fighting spirit.

“So he is willing himself on and doing marvellously, living life to the full.”

Charlotte has been open over the years about not knowing her biological father, Stephen Reed, after he left Maria when Charlotte was two years old.

Stephen publicly asked to reunite with his daughter in 2008, but Charlotte responded with a statement which said: “They are strangers to me. I don’t know if they are moral. Ignorance is bliss. I’m staying in my own ignorant bubble, right or wrong.”

In February 2021, it was revealed that Stephen had passed away after contracting coronavirus.

Kate Garraway’s Life Stories: Charlotte Church airs on Thursday 17 February at 9pm on ITV.

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