trisha goddard© Photo: Getty Images

Inside Trisha Goddard's troubled family history

The talk show host is appearing on this week's Piers Morgan's Life Stories

Senior Features Writer
February 25, 2021

Trisha Goddard is a household name thanks to her long-running career as a talk show host. The TV presenter, 63, is set to appear on Piers Morgan's Life Stories this week, detailing her upbringing, career, and the tragedies she has faced in her family life.

MORE: Trisha Goddard breaks down in tears on Lorraine

She is best known for her successful career as host of talk show Trisha on ITV and then Channel 5. The broadcaster has also made numerous appearances on other popular shows such as Loose Women, The Wright Stuff and Dancing on Ice. Ahead of the personal interview, find out about Trisha's history here…

WATCH: Trisha Goddard's breaks down on Lorraine remembering late mum

Trisha Goddard's early life

Trisha was born in London in 1954 and grew up with her mum, Agnes, who was a Windrush nurse from Dominica. Trisha never knew her biological father and has voiced her frustrations at her mother not revealing the identity of her father before her passing in 2004.

The TV presenter told Piers Morgan during the interview, which airs on Thursday at 9pm: "I felt very angry towards Mum. She could have told me. And there were excuses like 'I wasn't ready, I wasn't stable, then I was in the public eye' and what have you. But I don't think I would have judged her."

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Trisha posted a heartfelt tribute to her mum last June

Trisha Goddard's family

Trisha's mother Agnes later re-married and the couple welcomed three daughters, but the TV presenter didn't realise he wasn't her biological father until much later in life. Writing in the Guardian in 2014, the presenter said: "I was, until 2004, under the impression that I was the daughter of my mum, who was Dominican, and her husband, who was white British from Norfolk – the man I knew as my dad. I always had my doubts about my background: my skin colour was darker than my three younger sisters."

In 1988, Trisha's youngest sister, Linda, who battled schizophrenia, sadly died from complications arising from self-inflicted injuries. The TV presenter has cited the tragic loss of her sister as a contributing factor to her own mental health issues, as well as an inspiration for her being an advocate for mental health awareness.

Trisha often shares candid details of her family history

Trisha Goddard's partners and children

Trisha wed her first husband Robert Nestdale in the mid-eighties but the marriage was short-lived. To Trisha's knowledge, Robert died in 1989 of cancer, however, it then transpired that he had in fact died of AIDS. After finding out the truth, Trisha was faced with the fear that she too would have the disease and therefore passed onto her newborn daughter, Billie, who she welcomed with her new partner Mark Grieve. However, after testing, her result was fortunately negative.

Appearing on Loose Women on Thursday ahead of her appearance on Life Stories, Trisha said: "One of his colleagues told me it wasn't cancer, he had died of AIDs and of course I'd just given birth. This is 1989 so you have to put your head back in those days when information was patchy about it."

© Photo: Getty Images

Trisha with her daughters in 2006

Trisha then went onto marry her second long-term partner, Mark Grieve, with whom she welcomed daughters Billie and Madison Mae, in 1993, but the couple then divorced in 1996. Trisha's third husband was Peter Gianfrancesco who she married in 1998, but later divorced in 2017.

Opening up about the end of her marriage, Trisha told HELLO! in an exclusive interview in 2018: "It feels good now to finally be able to be honest about where I am in my life." She credited Peter with being "a rock" when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 – but told us: "As time passed and I recovered and got stronger and was therefore no longer reliant on him, that's when I felt things started to change."

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