Loose Women presenter Charlene White has opened up about her emotional journey tracing her family history for a new ITV documentary, Empire's Child. The 43-year-old discovered that her five-times great-grandfather, John Stanbury, was a slave owner in Jamaica.
In the programme, airing on Thursday, White is visibly shocked by the revelation. 'He was a slave owner, he owned people who looked like me,' she says. 'And that is within my bloodline, which is a weird thing to get my head around.' Genealogist Dianne Golding-Frankson told her that several of Stanbury's children were mixed race, prompting White to reflect on her own red hair.
White also traced her four-times great-grandparents, Andrew and Elsey Pusey, who were born into slavery in the 1790s but freed in 1834. She became tearful learning how they bought land and sold produce to provide a better life for their children.
The documentary, commissioned for Black History Month, sees White delve into her mother's maiden name. She initially planned to maintain a journalist's detachment but found herself overwhelmed. 'The detachment that I wanted... just didn't happen,' she said. 'It hit me like a ten-ton truck in the heart.'
White hopes the programme will encourage others to learn about their family history before it is too late. The documentary follows a similar revelation for BBC presenter Alex Scott, who discovered her ancestor was also a slave owner.
