{"id":534016,"date":"2026-04-16T11:47:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T11:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/534016\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T11:47:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T11:47:12","slug":"sir-lenny-henry-opens-up-on-bombshell-dad-discovery-that-turned-his-world-upside-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/534016\/","title":{"rendered":"Sir Lenny Henry opens up on \u2018bombshell\u2019 dad discovery that turned his world \u2018upside down\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Sir Lenny Henry<\/a> has opened up about the \u201cbombshell\u201d revelation that turned his world \u201cupside down\u201d \u2013 a man he believed to be his family friend was, in fact, his dad.<\/p>\n

The actor and comedian, 67, spent his life until the age of 12 believing that his biological father was a man called Winston, who raised him in Dudley alongside his mother, Winnie<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Before discovering the news, Sir Lenny was sent to the house of a man his parents referred to as \u201cUncle Albert\u201d to help with some chores. This turned out to be a way for his real father, Albert, to see his son without him knowing who he was.<\/p>\n

\"LennyLenny Henry found out a family friend was his biological father when he was 12 (Gareth Cattermole\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

It was Albert\u2019s other son, Lloyd, who broke the news to Sir Lenny, the comedian revealed during a talk at Riverside Studios in London earlier this week. He said he started to shake, and it felt like somebody had flipped him upside down.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had this bombshell dropped in my life, and I\u2026 played amongst the ruins, hoping it would all work out in the end \u2013\u00a0and you know what? It did,\u201d Sir Lenny told The Mirror<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Recalling his first meeting with Albert, unaware of his identity, Sir Lenny said: \u201cI\u2019d never met this guy before. I said, \u2018Good evening,\u2019 and went in. He had the hat on, he made chicken and rice, and it was great. So I started to see him every Friday. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d take chores like Cinderella. I\u2019d hoover, clean the windows. He\u2019d give me two and six, which was a Cadbury\u2019s chocolate bar and a can of Coke, and that was the level of our relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Sir Lenny was 12, Lloyd turned to him and said: \u201cYou\u2019ve got no idea why you\u2019re here, do you? I said: \u2018No.\u2019 He said: \u2018That\u2019s your dad\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sir Lenny\u2019s mother travelled from Jamaica to England in the 1950s to find a job paying \u201cgood money\u201d, following which she intended to also bring her husband, Winston, and four children, Seymour, Hilton, Beverly and Kay. While in London, she caught pneumonia \u2013 and it was Albert, who lived above her, who cared for her. Winnie\u2019s story was told in ITV\u2019s 2023 drama Three Little Birds.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlbert knew she was sick, and he was very good,\u201d Sir Lenny said. \u201cHe\u2019d make her soup. When she got better, he said, \u2018Let me show you around Dudley. You don\u2019t know the place.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cHe showed her where to work \u2013 the factory she might get a job. He showed her all the pubs. He took her to dance halls in Birmingham. Eventually, they fell for each other \u2013 and I was the result.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LennyLenny Henry \u2018started to shake\u2019 when he found out who his real father was (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

They lived as a family until Winston and their sons arrived from Jamaica, and Winnie moved herself and baby Lenny into a flat. Winston forgave Winnie and helped raise Sir Lenny as his own.<\/p>\n

Sir Lenny previously said that on Albert\u2019s deathbed, \u201che wanted to cram a lot in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would just sit there and nod and then he was gone. I didn\u2019t cry. There was respect for him, but the emotional connection wasn\u2019t there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-534016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}