Kevin Clifton has been left in tears after making a devastating discovery about a family ancestor on an upcoming episode of Who Do You Think You Are?
The 40-year-old dancer, who left Strictly Come Dancing in 2020, is joining stars including Bear Grylls, Claire Foy and Andrew Lloyd Webber on the new series of the BBC show which delves into the family tree of famous faces.
In the episode Kevin was left feeling sickened when he found out that his great-great-great-grandfather John Russell was horribly abusive to his wife Grace.
The pair ended up having an "incredible rare" public divorce at the time, which was put down to: "Infidelity on the part of Mrs Russell."
However, the documents showed to Kevin, who recently welcomed baby Minnie with his partner Stacey Dooley, detailed the fall out of their relationship and how Mr Russell had "struck his wife" and "blackened her eyes".
A heartbroken Kevin told the cameras: “Grace was in a violent and abusive relationship. Everything was stacked against her. It’s so unbelievably unfair. My ancestor was a villain.”
Elsewhere in the episode, the dancer set off on a mission to trace back his ancestors back to the 18th century in a bid to see if he was related to a First Nations Canadian woman called Matooski, who in her lifetime was subject to horrific racism.
After travelling across the Atlantic he is seen becoming teary-eyed when he is first shown a picture of the woman, his great-great-great-great-great grandmother, also known as Nancy, for the first time.
Speaking to The Daily Express, he said: "It's funny because I'm as far removed from Matooski. I'm a 40-year-old white man who's a ballroom dancer.
"I felt very defensive and protective of her even though it was a long time ago. Just the fact that it was connected with my history."
He went onto explain that he's never had to deal with prejudice or racism and felt saddened that she had been through such turmoil.
Kevin, who still follows his passion for dancing by taking part in Strictly the Musical on tour, met long-term partner Stacey on the show in 2018 when they won the glitterball trophy.
Last week, in an exclusive chat with OK!, the couple revealed that they're already thinking about trying to have a little brother or sister for their baby girl who was born in January this year.
“Stacey’s already talking about Minnie needing a brother or a sister,” confides Kevin. “I can see us having more kids if we’re lucky enough and it happens for us, but Minnie is a handful as it is at the moment!”
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