DALE Winton's sunny persona made him a legendary TV personality - but the star, who passed away yesterday at the age of 62, had a tragic upbringing, losing both his mum and dad in his early years.
His mum, Sheree, took her own life just days after his 21st birthday, leaving Winton, who has blamed his mum's death on depression, orphaned.
When Dale was just 13, his father Gary, a salesman, died on the day of his bar mitzvah.
His death left Sheree, a glamorous actress who had once even appeared in a Bond film, raising young Dale alone.
The popular TV host opened up on his private pain two years ago, speaking out about his battle with depression.
Dale was left unable to leave his house in 2016 before telling Loose Women that he should have taken a career break to concentrate on his mental health.
He said: ““I always thought, ‘Get over yourself’. But my mum died of it. It exists and anybody out there who has had it knows it exists.
"I should have taken myself off the TV but I didn’t.
“Listen, there are worse things in the world – but I had depression and I didn’t realise."
A decade ago Dale, who fronted shows including Pets Win Prizes, the Great British Song Contest, the National Lottery, and dating series The Other Half, among many others, credited his mother for his success, saying he got his impressive work ethic from her.
He told The Times: “My mum came from a very poor background, and she dragged herself up by her own bootstraps.”
Dale said: “Her showbiz career said less about her than the fact that she did her own divorce. I used to come home and she’d be sitting there with books looking for precedent in legal documents from years gone by!
“And I’m thinking: study. So I’ve always been a grafter!”
He also kept his sexuality a secret, only coming out as gay at the age of 47, never even confessing his feelings to his mother.
The star said he never had to come out to Sheree as she heard him speaking on the phone to his ex, who he said was “very obviously gay, very camp”.
But his mother’s reaction to Dale’s relationship caused him further upset and even made him flee the home.
He said: “I thought, ‘Oh God, she doesn’t like him being gay, and if you follow it through, she’s hateful of me being gay.’
“This was the question I’d always dreaded, and I didn’t know how I was going to handle it. So I actually picked up my suitcase and left home there and then. For a week.
“She managed to locate me, and we sat down, and she said to me, ‘I will always be your best friend as well as your mother, and I never want you to feel there’s something you can’t tell me, and I will never judge or discriminate.
“’You are my son, and you don’t have a father; you can trust me with anything.’”
But despite Sheree's comments, Dale said one of his greatest regrets was never telling his mother the truth about his sexuality even though she said he could trust her no matter what.
His voice cracking, he said: “If I have a regret, it’s actually that I never sat… although she knew, I… I’m sorry that I never gave her the benefit of that trust.
“I kind of wished I had, because she died not long after.”
But, despite his feelings, he did not come out publicly for another 25 years, when he finally felt comfortable enough to make the admission in his 2002 autobiography, Dale: My Story.
The showbiz legend used the writing of his book as therapy, saying it helped him work through his past.
He said: “The autobiography probably was more cathartic than I realised.
"And I decided you don’t have to be walking up the red carpet to some God-awful premiere of a film you’d never seen, or go to some party with people who talk bulls**t and probably go to the toilet and take drugs, it leaves me cold.”
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Dale Winton tragically died at the age of 62
The classic intro to Supermarket Sweep starring late and much loved presenter Dale WintonAnd 10 years ago he even confessed he did not believe he was in with a chance with winning the love of a man anymore, telling The Times:
“I’m at the age where I probably now haven’t got the chance.”
Despite his bubbly and happy on-screen persona, Dale claimed he lacked self-confidence, adding that it was “extraordinary considering the job I do”.
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