LOTHARIO funnyman Jack Whitehall has learned of an ancestor who was a bed-hopping womaniser killed by a sexually-transmitted disease.
Jack — whose exes include actress Kate Beckinsale and singer Dua Lipa — made the discovery on Who Do You Think You Are?.
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He was initially amused as the exploits of travelling salesman great-great-grandfather Richard were revealed and branded him as “a bit of a shagger”.
But the comic was moved at finding out Richard caught syphilis, infected his wife Caroline, and both went mad and died.
The family covered up the real cause of death by claiming he died in a pony and trap accident and that she was “killed by grief”.
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Appearing alongside dad Michael, 79, Jack said: “We are not particularly emotional people, but reading an account that’s as graphic and as stark as that, it’s very hard not to be affected by it.”
Ladies’ man Jack, 31, has also dated presenter Kirsty Gallacher and was seen with ex-Playboy model Melinda London in May.
On the BBC family history show — which airs on August 5 — he is told his orphaned great-grandad inherited the equivalent of £10million by a cousin.
But he was horrified to hear another of his 19th century relatives was a Welsh Tory lawyer, who spent his time finding legal technicalities to stop rival Whig supporters voting.
Comic Jack said: “It’s pioneering scumbaggery — I’d rather he had syphilis.”
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