Lulu ‘ran the gamut of emotion’ on Who Do You Think You Are?
She discovered why her mother was given away as a baby.
Singer Lulu has said she “ran the gamut of emotions” as she explored her family history in a new episode of Who Do You Think You Are?
The Shout singer, whose full name is Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, shot to fame in 1965 when she was just 15 but has never learned why her mother, the middle of seven children, was given away to another family when she was a newborn baby.
She told the Press Association: “I was so close to my mother and I think that I carried some of her pain because her whole life was impacted by, more than anything, the secret.
“I think that made her deal with life in a certain way.
“When it’s so personal, it’s kind of draining so for the second part I got my brother to come with me to share in my journey and he also at times was overwhelmed.
“We felt very tender towards my mother. At times I got really angry about my grandparents and I didn’t really like them but then you learn more about people and you learn that they couldn’t help the situation they were in.”
In the programme Lulu discovers her grandfather Hugh Cairns was part of a Glasgow gang and was in prison 10 times in 10 years.
She said: “I was angry with him because my mother was so impacted. I felt if only he would have… but that is not the way life works.
She continued: “My grandmother got lost in her relationship and I can really relate to it, I’m a bit like that myself.
“I am a bit of a romantic, I can relate to all of it and until you’re in someone’s shoes it’s hard to judge but I got upset and then I felt bad for them, I went through the gamut of emotion.”
Lulu said the programme was so emotional she will only be able to watch it surrounded by her family.
Who Do You Think You Are? is on BBC One on Thursday at 8pm.