Carol Vorderman admits 'it was unstable' as she opens up on family struggles

Carol Vorderman has opened up about her “unstable” childhood that once saw her running away to live with the circus. Carol , 64, grew up in Wales with her mum Edwina Davies and stepfather Gabriel Rizzi. The TV star has previously described moving into Gabriel’s home as “moving from a black and white world into one of technicolour”.

Speaking on James O’Brien’s Full Disclosure podcast, Carol detailed how Gabriel would drive around town in a pickup truck. She says locals found her stepfather’s love of swearing “hilarious”. READ MORE: Major disruption promised for holidaymakers heading to Spain READ MORE: Comedian praises Cardiff saying there is 'no better place to perform' The mum-of-two explained: “I loved my dad, he had a pickup truck, and I loved going up town, because every town in Wales has a castle, so we had the castle at the top of town, and he always come rain, hail, sleet or snow had the window down with his arm out, and he knew everyone.



There were only like 4,000 people if that and he would swear every third word. “His first language was Italian, his second language Welsh and third language swearing. He’d go “Cat you b**** come here now’, and I thought it was hilarious, I loved it, it’s probably why I love swearing so much now.

“Then we’d go up town and he’d say, ‘This is Robert you old cow’, and everyone thought it was hilarious and he would get away with it.” However, Carol admits her mother’s relationship with Gabriel was difficult. And while Edwina and Gabriel tied the knot in 1970, they split just a decade later.

Carol added: “He was like technicolour. Life was in technicolour with my dad but mum kept leaving him, so that meant everything was unstable really. “We ran away to the circus once, not even kidding, because my sister worked for Billy Smart Junior and they had to be in Leicester at the time.

So my mum left my stepfather, yet again, and ran away with me. I think I was like 10 or something, so I sold candyfloss for a week. “We lived in this, it was horrible, it was opposite Leicester prison and there was this broken pane of glass in this thing, it was like a BandB, an old-fashioned BandB.

” Former Countdown star Carol revisited locations from her childhood with Gabriel on the 2021 BBC programme Closer to Home. There Carol met Gabriel’s son Arthur - her step brother - and his son Tino, Tino’s son Joel and Arthur’s wife Elaine. She described Gabriel as “loud and funny” and she said she “worshipped” him.

An emotional Carol told viewers: “Growing up my biological dad refused to have anything to do with me. “But one day, when I was nine, my mum met a handsome former Italian prisoner of war, who became my step father, and my dad.” She added: “Reminiscing about my dad always gets me emotional.

The hardest thing is the knowledge now - I’m going to start crying again - that my step father loved me, probably as much as I loved him. “And I only have to think about it and it makes me cry. And I think I’m grieving for him.

For the first time. “Grieving for the lost years that I could have had with him in my life. But I will be forever grateful for the time I did have with him.

”.