Charlene White breaks down in tears in new documentary on family history

Loose Women’s Charlene White has broken down in tears when discovering how her four-times great grandparents were ‘among the first to live as free black Jamaicans’ after being born into slavery.

The London-born news presenter, 43, delves deep into her family history, as well as their links to the British Empire, for tonight’s ITV documentary, Charlene White: Empire’s Child, and is left shocked by what she finds.

Tracing her family tree in Jamaica, the mother-of-two is told how her four-times great grandparents, Andrew and Elsey Pusey, were born into slavery.

But the couple were among the first Jamaicans freed in 1834 when slavery was abolished and went on to purchase land at a discounted rate from the Baptist Church so they could live on it and sell produce.

Saying she felt proud of her relatives, Charlene said: ‘They were born slaves but when they were my age they were freed, and they wanted more, and despite everything that was thrown at them as slaves, they still had hope and they still believed they could create something.’

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Charlene White (pictured), 43, delves deep into her family history, as well as their links to the British Empire, for tonight’s ITV documentary, Charlene White: Empire’s Child, and is left shocked by what she finds

Tracing her family tree in Jamaica, the mother-of-two is told how her four-times great grandparents, Andrew and Elsey Pusey, were born into slavery. But the couple were among the first Jamaicans freed in 1834 when slavery was abolished and went on to purchase land (pictured) at a discounted rate from the Baptist Church so they could live on it and sell produce

Tracing her family tree in Jamaica, the mother-of-two is told how her four-times great grandparents, Andrew and Elsey Pusey, were born into slavery. But the couple were among the first Jamaicans freed in 1834 when slavery was abolished and went on to purchase land (pictured) at a discounted rate from the Baptist Church so they could live on it and sell produce

‘And my gosh they did,’ she continues. ‘To know that I came from here and that generations and generations kept on it, they kept on it, they all wanted more, they wanted more for their children, my grandparents wanted more for their children, my parents wanted more for their children and then you’ve got me, my brother and my sister. 

‘And the dream that Andrew and Elsey had here, was us. And they did it and I hope that coming home to here in some weird way, going full circle, I hope they realise that they did it.

‘… What they wanted and what they hoped they actually did it, and I’m so proud of them.’ 

Saying she felt proud of her relatives, Charlene (pictured) said: 'They were born slaves but when they were my age they were freed, and they wanted more, and despite everything that was thrown at them as slaves, they still had hope and they still believed they could create something.'

Saying she felt proud of her relatives, Charlene (pictured) said: ‘They were born slaves but when they were my age they were freed, and they wanted more, and despite everything that was thrown at them as slaves, they still had hope and they still believed they could create something.’

'And my gosh they did,' she continues. 'To know that I came from here and that generations and generations kept on it, they kept on it, they all wanted more'. Pictured, the area Charlene visited

‘And my gosh they did,’ she continues. ‘To know that I came from here and that generations and generations kept on it, they kept on it, they all wanted more’. Pictured, the area Charlene visited

Elsewhere in the documentary, the Loose Women star shockingly discovers her five times great-grandfather was a slave owner. 

The news presenter traces her family tree back to Jamaica where she uncovers the history of her five time great-grandfather, John Stanbury.   

Upon discovering his identify, Charlene emotionally says: ‘He was a slave owner, he owned people who looked like me.

‘And that is within my bloodline, which is a weird thing to get my head around and he is responsible for my families’ lighter skin. Is it a nice history? No, but I feel it is something I needed to know. ‘

Elsewhere in the documentary, the Loose Women star (pictured) shockingly discovers her five times great-grandfather was a slave owner

Elsewhere in the documentary, the Loose Women star (pictured) shockingly discovers her five times great-grandfather was a slave owner 

Charlene is told by Genealogist Dianne Golding-Frankson that several of John’s children were mixed race. 

To which she responds: ‘You know the red in my hair when it’s not dyed? Gosh, it’s because of this man. This man could have been responsible for a lot of pain. And chose to put his children in a stock take of the slaves he owned.’ 

Discussing the filming of the show, commissioned as part of ITV’s celebration of Black History Month, Charlene told MailOnline last week how she initially planned to keep her cool journalist’s head, but soon discovered that the deeper she delved into the past, the more emotional she became.

She said of the show: ‘Empire’s Child is about where I sit in the British Empire as a child of immigrants here. It’s basically looking at the roots of my mum’s maiden name and looking to see how far back in history we’d be able to go in history to figure out where the surname came from. 

Family: Charlene's family were part of the Windrush generation who settled in the UK. Here she is pictured with her late mother Dorrett who sadly passed away aged 47 in 2002

Family: Charlene’s family were part of the Windrush generation who settled in the UK. Here she is pictured with her late mother Dorrett who sadly passed away aged 47 in 2002

‘To figure about more about my history, by nature, of essentially descending from slaves can be very difficult to work out where you come from because a lot of those documents were destroyed after independence or are under lock and key with the national archive. So these things, it can be quite difficult. 

‘But the genealogist that worked on this went further than they ever thought possible, which was quite a shock. Because it turned out that the record for my family were actually well kept and were traceable, so it just was an incredible journey.’ 

She continued: ‘I started it with very much a journalist’s mind and heart, like I was thinking “do not get connected to the story”. 

‘But by the end of the programme, I became a lot more emotional than I ever expected her to be and the story hit me in the heart in a way that I was not expecting. 

‘The detachment that I wanted to have with this programme just didn’t happen. And it was an overwhelming sense of finally understanding the roots of me, it’s just hit me like a ten ton truck in the heart!

‘There’s a moment in the film where essentially, you just slowly see me crumble because I was in a really fortunate position where I was able to figure out where I come from and to find out those stories of my family and to figure out where I sit within the British Empire as a black British woman who is born of immigrants, not everybody gets to do that.’

Reflecting on the experience, Charlene revealed she hoped it would encourage people to reach out to their grandparents and learn more about their family past before the opportunity goes. 

Charlene White: Empire’s Child is on ITV on Thursday at 9pm