Charlotte Church’s mother Maria Cooper has stated she was ‘demonised’ by the press at the peak of her daughter’s career.
Charlotte’s family are the subject of a new Channel 4 documentary, which sees the singer, mother Maria, and stepdad James – who was diagnosed with rare terminal illness AL amyloidosis – as they aim to heal their rift stemming back to her teenage years.
She fell out with her parents when she was 16 over her then boyfriend, DJ Steven Johnson, causing her to walk out not to speak to her folks for nearly two years.
Speaking on This Morning to hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, Maria recalled how the press coverage around her had a negative impact.
‘That’s one thing I absolutely despised and hated, [the way] I was portrayed by certain people,’ Maria said.
‘It was bloody hard. It was very, very hard. I was demonised, I was basically called the welsh dragon, the mother from hell, and I just thought it was very unfair.
‘I was put in a position of dealing with all these top company people like Sony etc, I was just well out of my depth, and I thought I did pretty damn well.
‘I used to battle for Charlotte like you wouldn’t believe.’
Asked where it went wrong between the two of them, Charlotte said: ‘I think basically I don’t think anything really went wrong, I think it was just like a pressure cooker. It was a really intense situation.
‘You’ve got the stuff going on with the press – they put things into very simple almost fairytale narratives. So mum became the evil stepmother, I became this fallen angel.
‘So on one level there’s that, and another level my mum and dad were dealing with the huge security risk that we had, there was a couple of kidnap plots and stuff when I was a kid. It was on lots of different levels a whole load of stress and pressure.’
Asked if it led to them being estranged, Charlotte’s mum said: ‘It was for a while when Charlotte left home and it was very brutal and very sudden.
‘She broke my heart and I ended up having a nervous breakdown. I’ve just started back in therapy now, it’s early days but it’s going really well. I’ve always suffered with mental health issues.’
Speaking about motivations behind the documentary, Charlotte revealed how they wanted to address misconceptions about her family.
‘I think for me it was a chance for my mum and dad who have had a really rough ride in the press to set the record straight and show who they are,’ Charlotte said.
‘As they explore in the programme, he has a terminal illness, he wanted to show there’s life after a terminal illness.’
You can catch Charlotte Church: My Family And Me on Channel 4 Thursday at 9pm.
MORE: Charlotte Church reveals stepdad is terminally ill and could have six months to live
