Inside the off-screen life of Long Lost Family presenter Nicky Campbell and his hunt for estranged birth mother
NICKY Campbell is best known for presenting ITV's Long Lost Family, but the star has a similar tale to many of those on the show.
The Scottish presenter and journalist, 61, has hosted the series - which attempts to reunite long lost family members - since 2011, and the show is 10 seasons strong.
Whilst the show is always an incredibly emotional journey for all those involved in the show, for Nicky, it's very close to home.
The star was born in 1961, and given up for adoption at only four days old.
His biological mum, Stella Lackey gave Nicky away as she was unmarried at the time, and even fled from her hometown of Dublin to Edinburgh as she felt ashamed.
Adoptive parents Frank and Sheila Campbell took Nicky in, with him mum working as a psychiatric social worker and his father a publisher of maps.
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The TV host was raised as Frank and Sheila's own, but for the first five years of his life, biological mum Stella sent him Christmas cards.
It wasn't until he was 29 years old that Nicky would make another connection with Stella and meet face-to-face.
After a year of searching, the star found his birth mum in 1990, but felt he had "no emotional connection" to her.
Writing in his new book, One Of The Family, Nicky admits that he did feel sorry about Stella's: "complicated, rather tragic life”.
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He said: “I couldn’t magic up feelings that weren’t there.
"Maybe it was self-protection – subconsciously, I just couldn’t let the hurt she’d already caused go deeper.”
In 2008, Stella passed away, and Nicky attended the funeral over in Dublin.
Sadly, Nicky has also lost both of his adoptive parents.
Dad Frank died from pancreatic cancer back in 1996, and mum Sheila passed away in 2019.
After his mum's passing, Nicky shared an emotional message on his Twitter account.
He said: "My mum Sheila died yesterday at 96.
"We made a BBC programme together about her service as a radar operator and she was immensely proud of her role on D-Day.
“Her life’s work was as a social worker helping others. The day she and Dad adopted me was the day I won the lottery."
He continued: "She doted on her grandchildren and my girls completely adored her. Everyone did.
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“I am so lucky and proud to have had her as my mum and we will miss her more than we can ever express. She was my adoptive mum.
“She was my real mum.”
