Alison Hammond opened up about her 'fake' relationship with her father and how he 'pretended to be the perfect dad'.
The talk show presenter's father, Clifford, died in 2020 and had many other children besides Alison.
When her late mother Maria was pregnant with her, she discovered her partner was already married with children.
During a chat with Holly Willoughby on the Wylde Moon podcast, Alison recalled spending time with him once every year or two years.
"Every time I saw him it was like he was the best dad in the world. He was so charismatic and he'd put me on his lap and cuddle me and kiss me. I used to think to myself, 'I don't even know you. I don't know anything about you'," she said.
"He'd carry on as if we knew each other so so well. He was so proud of me when he saw me. It was a little bit fake if I'm honest with you."
She continued: "It was a little bit fake in the sense of he would pretend to be the most perfect dad and literally go for a year, two years. And then he'd come back and I'd see him again and be like, 'Oh there's my dad again'.
"It was so random and so not the way I saw a dad to be. What I realised was he had lots of different kids everywhere so I suppose he was going to see all of his different kids everywhere and being the same."
The star went on to explain how he wanted to be happy at the moment, but he wasn't there for her emotionally.
The presenter previously revealed that her late father used to smuggle drugs, handled wads of cash and even carried a shotgun in his truck.
He ran a business importing trucks and often travelled between the UK and the Caribbean.
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Alison said: “One day, he came straight to our house from the airport. ‘See these boots?’ he said, grinning down at his feet. ‘These are the most expensive pair of snakeskin boots in the world’.
“‘Why are they so expensive?’ my mum asked. He bent down, unzipped a boot and a load of ganja fell out.
“That was my dad! Cliff was charismatic and charming, but he was naughty. He’d illegally bring drugs into the country in the days when people could get away with it, before they introduced sniffer dogs and body scans at the airport.
"I’m embarrassed to admit it, because I’ve never been remotely interested in drugs, but I remember him coming to our house and giving my mum a roll of money.
“Thinking about it now, it was probably money earned from smuggling ganja. So shady.”
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