Welsh singer-songwriter Charlotte Church has opened up about how she begged her parents not to relocate from Wales to Los Angeles when she was a teenage star. The 37-year-old, who was born in Cardiff, was talking to Fearne Cotton on her podcast Happy Place.
The show invites celebrity guests to discuss what happiness means to them. During her episode Charlotte discussed her life and career and also talks about her wellness retreat at Rhydoldog House. You can read more about that here.
At one point in the podcast Charlotte discusses how “important” Wales is to her. For more TV and showbiz stories subscribe to our newsletter here.
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Fearne asked Charlotte: “How important has it been for you over the year staying in Wales? Because I'm sure especially when you were in your teens or 20s you could have lived in Hollywood, like all the places we imagine are so glamorous, or even moving to a big city like London or wherever it might be. How important is it that you stay in the Motherland?”
Charlotte, who is now married with three children, responded: “It's been really important for me. My family were fuming about it for a while because at the time, between 12 and 16, America was my biggest territory. We were out there all the time – like 50 flights a year out to New York and LA and I was touring America all at the time.
“So my mum and dad had spoken to my whole family and were like: 'Let's all move to LA' and I was like: 'No way. There is no way I'm moving to LA. It's crazy, I don't know anybody out there. What about my friends? I love Wales.'
“And there were just simple little rituals, you know, like hitting that Severn Bridge and every time I hit the Severn Bridge it was just like 'ah' and then the local radio station would come on with the same songs that they were playing when I left and I knew nothing had changed that much, that regardless of how massive whatever it had been that I had just done this was the same and my friends were the same, not much had happened that I'd missed that I couldn't catch up on.
“It was hugely important for me, in a people way, but now as I get older, witchier, and a bit more connected with the land I do think it's a properly rooted thing. And people when they meet me now say: 'You feel really rooted like a tree' and I do think that's my really rootsy Welshness.”
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