The True History of the Kelly Gang

He became famous in the North as an affable chat show host. But behind the chipper persona Gerry Kelly's difficult upbringing left him permanently estranged from his alcoholic father.

Jason O'Toole, 18 Oct 2008

When Gerry Kelly’s TV chat show was axed after 17 years back in 2005, the veteran broadcaster said he felt compelled to document his time working on UTV’s flagship progamme. Initially, Kelly was reluctant to write a straightforward autobiography but, as he got deeper into the project, he decided to reveal all about his alcoholic father.

“I wanted to mark the end of an era, because the book focuses mainly on the television years rather than my personal life. I didn’t want it to be an autobiography. However, my father’s alcohol problem had a huge effect on me,” he says. “I never spoke about it before. This is the first time I’ve mentioned it, outside of our family circles and friends who knew this story. But I felt I had to mention it because I suppose it formed me in many ways.”

As a young child, Kelly’s family shielded him from his father’s drinking. It wasn’t until he became a teenager that he eventually started to ask questions about his father’s illness. Soon afterwards, Gerry’s father walked out on his family and never returned.

“To be honest from the day he left home in my mind he’s dead. I said that all my life. I remember going to the doctor in my early 20s for a medical and he said to me, ‘Any history of cancer in the family?’ And then he said, ‘Is your father alive?’ And I said, ‘No’, and he then asked what he died of. And I said he died in a car accident.”

The normally affable Kelly is clearly still emotionally wounded by his father’s departure. Did he ever manage to patch up his relationship with his dad?

He shakes his head: “I would never reconcile with him. I always said that if he knocked on my door and said, ‘I’m your dad,’ I would have shut the door on him. I often thought that if my mother could forgive him then maybe I should have too – but that opportunity never arose. He never came back. It wasn’t the alcohol, it was the fact that he left home and never looked back.”

Like many children of alcoholic parents, Kelly abstained from drinking until he was in his mid-20s.

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