Читать книгу Heart and Soul - The Emotional Autobiography of Melissa Bell, Alexandra Burke's Mother - Melissa Bell - Страница 4

The release of Alex’s album at the end of 2009 resulted in a lot of stories appearing in the press about our family. I have chosen not to talk about some of these things when writing this book because I did not want to invade the privacy of my children or their father.

Although I have described my struggles as a single mother bringing up four children on my own, I did not think it was my place to go into detail about my ex-husband’s love life, and I certainly wasn’t going to talk about the love lives of my children.

It is true, as the newspapers have now revealed, that one of the girls with whom my ex-husband had an affair was underage at the time she allegedly fell pregnant by him, and that he served a prison sentence as a result.

I have never lied to the children about anything that happened between their father and me, but when they were small there seemed no reason why the rest of the world should know about our private business. I understand that now Alex is becoming famous it is pointless to hope that other people won’t be tempted to come forward and talk about things that have happened which we might have preferred to keep to ourselves. It was a very painful period of our lives, but we have moved on successfully and I fully understand that the other women and children in his life have an equal right to speak up about the ways in which he has treated them.

There have also been a lot of press stories about Alex and me falling out. It is a fact that we both have strong opinions and we both have a tendency to speak our minds when perhaps we should be a little more diplomatic, and it is true that our quick tempers often lead to fireworks between us. In fact, most of the family is just as outspoken and volatile. But virtually every woman I know who has daughters in their teens and early twenties experiences a lot of highs and lows in their relationships; it is all part of family life, all part of growing up. I’m sure there were times when I gave my mother just as much reason to worry as my children give me.

This is the story of a normal, loud, loving family who have been put under abnormal pressure, firstly through the behaviour of my ex-husband and secondly because of the pressures of the modern star-making media. I’m not complaining about it because show business is the world I chose, always knowing that success would come at a price.

I am so proud of the way I and my children have remained a family unit through everything, and I’m sure there will be plenty more dramas before we are finished. They are, after all, the stuff of life.