ANNE Hegarty has opened up about the difficult childhood she experienced as her father left the family.
Otherwise known as The Governess on The Chase, Anne revealed her more vulnerable side as she explained that her drive to succeed as a brainiac was made stronger by her unhappy family life.
She shared that her dad walked out before Christmas, leaving a note behind that read: “For Christmas 1970, one house free from husband.”
The I’m a Celeb star was only 12 at the time.
Things were also strained between her and her mother, as she admitted to 7News: “I grew up feeling like I couldn’t really do anything.
“My mother never told me I could accomplish anything. My dad was a complete incompetent in all walks of life.”
She later added: “I didn’t really have a particularly good childhood. The music was better, but there’s not much else that was better when I was a kid, to be honest.
“There are so many people my age who sort of look back nostalgically to earlier times. And I look at them and think, ‘No, you think it was better because your joints didn’t ache.'”
Thankfully her incredible IQ allowed her to create a better life for herself as an adult, rising to fame on the quiz show.
Even before joining the team of Chasers Anne worked as a journalist and ghostwriter.
And now she is soaring to even greater heights, as she recently revealed she has been cast in a short film.
Anne told the Daily Star: “I’ve been asked to be in the film and I’ve decided to go for it. We’re going to be making that in the next few months.
“I don’t think I’ll be nervous. It’s not in front of an audience. If it was, I’d be thinking, ‘Oh my God am I going to forget my lines?’ But because there won’t be an audience watching, I’m not worried.”