David Campbell talks about discovering Jimmy Barnes is his father when he was 10

David Campbell has spoken about his unconventional upbringing, after discovering legendary Aussie rocker Jimmy Barnes is his father at the age of 10.

In an interview with The Australian Women’s Weekly on Thursday, the 47-year-old Today Extra host revealed he was raised by his ‘very strict’ grandmother, who he believed was his adoptive mother.

He said he thought his teenage mother, Kim, was his sister until finally learning the truth about his family.

‘I had great manners but emotionally I wasn’t quite geared up for what was coming my way,’ he confessed.

David said that while he used to see Jimmy, 64, while growing up, he believed his dad was just a ‘family friend’. 

And he admitted that while it was a lot to come to terms with at first, he’s appreciative of the family he has today.

‘Being the child outside at first, and coming into the family, it’s been a wild journey but it’s beautiful. We are all really close and it just shows that family is family,’ he added.

During a radio interview on GOLD 104.3 in April 2015, David spoke more about his unusual upbringing. 

‘I was raised in Adelaide and the woman who raised me told me I was adopted. She [later] told me that she was actually my grandmother,’ he said at the time.

He added: ‘The woman I thought for 10 years was my sister was actually my mother.’

In a 2008 interview with ABC’s Talking Heads, David admitted he was more shocked to discover the truth about his mother than to learn who his father is.  

‘It was quite a shock. It was probably more a shock finding out that my mother was my sister,’ he said, adding that it ‘opened up a whole Pandora’s box of emotions’.