We struggled to make ends meet before I was famous’ says Gladiators’ Bradley Walsh as his first humble home is revealed
BRADLEY Walsh said he “struggled to make ends meet” before he found TV fame as he opened up about his humble beginnings.
The Gladiators host, who will front the BBC reboot alongside his son Barney as it returns tonight, recalled his childhood on a council estate with a mum who worked three jobs to put food on the table.
Bradley, 63, admitted things weren’t all glitz and glamour, as he struggled to
“I’m from a working-class background. I was born in Watford, and grew up in a council house,” TV favourite Bradley told The Telegraph.
“My mother was a single parent, who had to struggle hard to make ends meet.
“At one point she was holding down three different jobs. It was a happy childhood but we certainly didn’t have a great deal of money.”
The Chase presenter said that he was doing odd jobs from the age of 14 – including working as a baker’s boy and in a factory, where he was paid “only £120 for a week’s work”.
He continued: “I think I’ve inherited my mother’s attitude, that hard work will pay off.”
Despite being spotted at by Brentford FC for his football skills, his career in the sport was abruptly halted after he suffered an injury, and was forced to find a new career.
But Bradley was a natural showman and said he was the entertainer during family gatherings, where he told jokes and sang.
Although Bradley secured his big break in 1993 at the Royal Variety Show, things were particularly hard for the star during his early 20s.
He told the publication that he landed a job as a bluecoat at Pontins in Morecambe for three months and later landed a gig at the DOB Club, Kilburn, where he was paid £45 for a 40-minute slot.
He added: “I also became a father in my early twenties, and very much felt the responsibility to provide for my daughter.
“In the early days it was a struggle to juggle my day job with showbusiness ambitions and there were times when we were left with £5 at the end of the week for food.
“However, I turned professional in 1986 and haven’t been out of work since.”
Earlier this week, telly star Bradley revealed that he nearly turned down hosting the Gladiators reboot.
But it wasn’t the next generation of muscle-bound toughies who were scaring him, but working with his son Barney after five series of their travel show Breaking Dad.
He revealed: “I did have to talk dad into doing this, because of what we’d done on Breaking Dad.”
But Bradley shot back: “I was just sick to death of getting thrown off buildings and things like that.”