Anne Robinson shares ‘shame’ amid personal turmoil during daughter’s childhood: ‘Most appalling problem’
Anne Robinson has opened up about the profound guilt she has carried for decades after losing custody of her daughter Emma, describing it as the most shameful episode of her entire life.
The former Weakest Link host, now 81, was stripped of custody of Emma Wilson in 1973, when her daughter was only two years old. A court deemed her an unfit mother owing to her severe alcoholism.
Speaking on Saga’s Experience is Everything podcast with Lorraine Kelly, Ms Robinson traced her struggles back to her twenties, when she developed what she described as “the most appalling drink problem.”
The television presenter has now revealed how she gradually repaired her relationship with Emma after confronting her addiction, a journey she says began from “quite a low rate.”
Anne Robinson has opened up about the profound guilt she has carried for decades
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EXPERIENCE IS EVERYTHING WITH SAGA PODCAST/YOUTUBE
Ms Robinson revealed that her own mother, whilst “amazing,” had herself been a serious drinker.
Growing up with a parent battling alcohol dependency left her determined never to follow the same path, a resolve that ultimately proved futile.
“And of course I did,” she told Ms Kelly, adding: “I developed the most appalling drink problem in my 20s.
“It was so bad that when I was divorcing my husband, he fought and won custody of Emma, which was the most shameful, and remains the most shameful thing, in my life.”
Anne Robinson and her daughter Emma Wilson in 2008
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GETTY
Her ex-husband, Charles Wilson, had worked under Ms Robinson at the Daily Mail before the pair married in 1968.
Their marriage broke down five years later, with Mr Wilson securing custody of Emma during what was a bitter divorce.
Ms Robinson spoke candidly about the weight of remorse she bore in the aftermath of the custody ruling.
“I really had to pick myself up from that and somehow start again from quite a low rate,” she said.
The television presenter has now revealed how she gradually repaired her relationship with Emma
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EXPERIENCE IS EVERYTHING WITH SAGA PODCAST/YOUTUBE
“I think the shame is quite heavy. And I realised I had to stop drinking, which I did in the next couple of years.”
That recognition proved the catalyst for change. Within two years of losing Emma, Ms Robinson had given up drinking entirely.
Ms Robinson described the painstaking process of re-establishing her bond with Emma, which began in earnest when her daughter was around five or six years old.
“Slowly she was mine again, but it was quite a tough start… We had to start again when she was five or six, to really build a relationship which is untouchable now and has been for years and years and years,” she said.
Anne Robinson in 2000
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GETTY
Emma, who went on to forge a career as a television and radio producer, now shares an exceptionally close bond with her mother.
The pair’s relationship deepened further when they lived together during the Covid lockdown.
In July, Ms Robinson disclosed that she had left her Cotswolds countryside home and relocated to a London flat just a few streets from Emma and her family.
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