Jay Blades, 52, has spoken candidly about how his upbringing without his biological father Trevor impacted how he dealt with fatherhood in his 20s.
The Repair Shop star is a father to his 16-year-old daughter Zola, whom he shares with ex-wife Jade, as well sons, Levi, 31, and Dior, 27, from previous relationships. He was just 20 years old when he welcomed Levi with his on-off childhood girlfriend, Maria, but he left the mother of his child just one year after his eldest son was born as he "wasn't ready" to be a father.I wasn’t ready, plain and simple," he explained on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, adding: "I think I stayed with her for about a year and that was it."
Jay said his father – whom he described as "the man who contributed towards my birth" – was responsible for his mindset after he "disappeared with the money" and left his mother Barbara to "make her own way" when he was a child.He continued: "If you don’t see something, you have to be taught how to do it.Jay was raised alongside his half-brother Justin, but he later found out he had 27 half-brothers and sisters on his father's side.I'd hoped being a dad would fill the hole in my soul, but I wasn't ready," he previously said in an interview with Saga, but he has revealed that he remains on good terms with his children's mothers.
Chatting to The Telegraph about his own childhood, the restoration maestro said: "I haven't had that kind of stability throughout my childhood. I haven't seen a man be a man within a relationship."It's a bit like the guys in The Repair Shop – if no one showed them what to do, they'd keep on making mistakes, wouldn't they? So you have to learn from someone. And if there is no role model in the community that you're in, then you won't learn.Jay is now engaged to Lisa Zbozen after popping the question with a sentimental ring designed by Master Goldsmith Richard Talman in December 2021.
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